A Part of Me
by Kurinoone
Summary: Harry tries to adjust to his new life without Voldemort. But sometimes your past refuses to stay in the past. Book Two of the Dark Prince Trilogy. H/G AU
1. A new life

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Note : This is the Sequel to 'The Darkness Within'. I suggest that you read that first as none of this will make any sense if you don't.

**Chapter One**

Everywhere he looked, he could only see the silvery mist, obscuring the surroundings from view. Harry squinted against the mist, trying feebly to make out where he was. It was deathly quiet. Harry couldn't even hear his own footsteps falling on the ground.

"Dad! Are you there?" Harry asked.

"Damien! You better not be up to something!" Harry yelled again. It was just like his younger brother, to play a trick like this on him.

When there was no answer, Harry blindly made his way forward, cursing softly under his breath. He couldn't even remember how he got here. Where was he and where was everyone else?

Harry felt his outstretched fingers brush against something. It felt cold to the touch and had a smooth surface. Harry moved closer, trying to determine what this thing was.

It was as if a switch was flicked on, and the eerie mist cleared up at once. Harry sighed in relief. At least he would be able to see where he was going now. He looked down to see what he had bumped into in the dark.

Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Horrified, he pulled away the hand that was resting on the top of the object and stumbled a few steps away.

_Harry James Potter_

The silver words that were etched onto the black marble glistened like silver jewels. Harry tried to get his feet to move, but sheer terror gripped at him. He was staring at the black marble tomb. The black marble tomb that Voldemort had build for him.

Harry felt his heart beating frantically in his chest. He turned around, trying to get as far away from the tomb as possible. He stopped as a terrifying sight greeted him. Harry stood stock still as Voldemort stood before him, red eyes burning fiercely.

Voldemort didn't say anything. Not a single word left his lips. He stood at the same spot, just staring at Harry. His ruby red eyes, never left Harry's face as flames started to rise from his robes. Harry stood, horrified at the sight. He tried to turn away but it was as if Voldemort's gaze was holding him in place, refusing to let him go. Harry watched horror-struck as the flames engulfed Voldemort.

Voldemort didn't let a single sound escape him as the flames engulfed him. He continued to stare at Harry. As the flames licked over his face, his mouth opened and only one word left him.

"Harry"

Harry jerked awake in his bed. He was breathing heavily and his entire body was soaked with sweat. Harry took in his surroundings and realised that he was in his bedroom. Judging by the darkness around him, it was only the middle of the night.

Harry took a few deep breaths to calm himself. He pushed himself to sit up in his bed. He realised that he was shaking all over. He rubbed at his tired eyes and sighed heavily. Why couldn't he get rid of that damn nightmare? Every night, Harry had to watch Voldemort's death again and again. It always started differently but ended with Voldemort standing before him before flames engulfed him. Most of the nightmares ended after the flames licked over the motionless body of Voldemort, but sometimes Voldemort would call out to Harry.

Harry couldn't help the shudder that ran through him as Voldemort's voice rang in his head. It was always just one word. He never said anything else. It was always just 'Harry'.

Harry tried to go back to sleep but half an hour later, gave up and admitted defeat. It had been three weeks since Voldemort's death. Harry was dealing with this the only way he knew how to, he blocked out what he had done. He refused to talk about it with anyone. It was not that hard really, as his parents didn't want to mention Voldemort at all. Damien was happy to forget what had happened as well, so Harry found it very easy to distract his mind from Voldemort and was keeping busy with his new lifestyle with his parents and brother. His mum had tried once to tell him that it wasn't his fault and that he shouldn't feel guilty about killing Voldemort. Harry had just nodded his head and had refused to discuss it. No one would understand just how guilty Harry was. He had killed the man that had brought him up.

Harry climbed out of his bed and quietly made his way to the wardrobe on the other end of his room. He changed into his training clothes and, as quietly as he could, left the Manor to go and train in his specially built training grounds.

This was what Harry did when he couldn't distract his mind with anything else. He trained. He had been using his training grounds more and more lately as the nightmares were staring to get worse. Harry had not slept properly for days.

Harry trained vigouroulsy, not allowing his mind to wander anywhere else. He trained for hours. He only stopped when he saw the sky turn pink as the sun came up. Harry went back into his house before anyone got up. He didn't feel like telling anyone about his nightly routine. He crept up to his room and took a long relaxing shower, to ease away the aches the tough training regime had left.

When Harry came downstairs and entered the kitchen he saw that the rest of his family were already up. His mum was preparing breakfast, as usual. She turned around as Harry came inside. Her face lit up as she looked at her eldest son.

"Morning!" she said happily.

Harry smiled and replied with 'morning' as well.

He joined his dad and brother at the table. Damien was still rubbing sleep from his eyes but for once, James looked wide awake. Lily joined her family at the table and the four of them had their breakfast and talked about what they were going to do with their day. Damien had already decided that he and Harry were going to practise their Quidditch techniques, while Lily was going to finish her gardening project. James said something about Sirius coming over and them working on 'Auror stuff'.

Harry and Damien had just walked onto their private Quidditch pitch when the floo turned green and Sirius stepped out onto the rug. He brushed the dark locks out of his eyes and gave Lily a broad smile.

"Morning! Am I late for breakfast? I can smell sausages. You must have saved some for me. You know they are my favourite." He said as he kissed Lily on the cheek, as she gave him a stern look.

"I told you before, if you want breakfast, then come on time." She replied but set a big plate of breakfast down on the table for him anyway.

James greeted his friend as well and held out his hand to receive something. Sirius sighed and pulled out a rolled up newspaper.

"If you're going to read it anyway, then why did you cancel your subscription?" he asked as he handed James a copy of the Daily Prophet.

"You know why." James answered as he flattened out the paper and started reading it.

James knew that he shouldn't even bother to read the paper as it was filled with nothing but so-called eye witness accounts as to what had happened in Hogsmeade _that_ day. But he still couldn't help read the paper, as many years of habit had forced it as a daily routine.

James would read the paper and then destroy it so that Harry wouldn't read it and get upset. The wizarding world had changed its tune about Harry. Initially, after Harry's trial, many people were still wary about him. They didn't trust him and for the majority of them, Harry was just as bad as Voldemort. Now, however, Harry was a hero. He was their saviour. The chosen one who got rid of the evil Dark Lord. It was all a bit too much for James and he didn't want Harry to read some of the things people were saying about him. He knew exactly how Harry would react. The hypocrisy of these people was unbelievable. James kept Harry away from all of this as much as could.

After reading the latest rubbish, a wizard who was demanding that Harry get an Order of Merlin, First Class for killing Voldemort, James rolled up the paper and used his wand to burn it. Sirius was half way through his breakfast and stopped to watch James. He had brought the paper to him every morning and watched as James would read it, get annoyed at what was written and then burn the newspaper.

He knew that James was only trying to protect his son. He didn't want Harry to read all the silly things about him being a saviour and a hero since that would just make him feel angry and maybe guiltier about killing Voldemort.

Sirius didn't quite understand why Harry was still feeling guilty. Voldemort had tortured Harry and then tried to kill him. He would have succeeded if Harry didn't act the way he did. Damien would have been dead if it wasn't for that Layhoo Jisteen. As far as Sirius was concerned, he didn't think Harry should feel guilty about anything.

"So, I take it you've still not talked to him yet?" Sirius asked as James finished drinking his coffee.

James looked up to meet his friend's eyes and then shook his head.

When Harry had been in hospital, the healer in charge had recommended Harry speak to a healer of the mind about what had happened. It was clear to see that Harry was in shock and denial about Voldemort's death. James had objected to that, saying that he would talk to his son himself and help him through whatever shock he was going through.

However, three weeks later, James had still to say anything to Harry about what had happened. It wasn't as if he hadn't tried but every time he thought about talking to Harry, something would come up. Whether it was Auror work, Order work or just the fact that Harry seemed to preoccupied with other things. James was convinced that Harry wasn't upset anymore. He was actually starting to go back to normal so James felt that it wasn't necessary to bring up such a sore subject. That was why he didn't want Harry to read anything in the paper that would refresh that incident in his mind.

"He's fine now, Sirius. I think we all should move past this." James said as he got up from the table.

"James, you can't shield him from this forever. Sooner or later he's going to have to deal with what he did. You can keep him from reading the paper and watching the news but what about when he has to go out into the wizarding world? Harry is a celebrity now. If he's not ready to accept what happened and what he did, how is he going to deal with all the hysteria out there?" Sirius asked.

"He is ready. He's fine. Harry's dealing with this in his own way. Trust me Sirius, Harry will be fine." James said.

Lily didn't say anything. She had already been through this with him and with Harry. She wanted James to talk to Harry but James kept on insisting that Harry was fine. She had then tried to talk to Harry herself but found that Harry had quickly brushed her away, claiming that he was fine and didn't need to talk about anything. When Lily had managed to get Harry to sit so that she could talk to him, Harry had just agreed with whatever she said. It was hopeless to get him to open up.

Sirius dropped the conversation. He could see that James didn't want to talk to Harry about Voldemort. It was too painful for him and for Harry. So he was taking the easy way out. Ignore everything and hope it would sort itself out.

Sirius hoped that everything did work out. He knew enough about his godson to know that Harry was not someone who was easy to talk to. If Harry was keeping his feelings to himself then there wasn't really anything anyone could do about that. Sirius got up and followed James to the office upstairs. They had a lot of work to do.

He caught sight of Harry and Damien flying outside. Sirius stood for a moment, watching his two godsons flying around and having fun. Harry looked like he was really enjoying himself. As far as looks went, he looked happy and healthy. Sirius sighed deeply and hoped that James was right. He hoped that Harry was fine and that he was ready to deal with the wizarding world and the fame that was awaiting him.

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I know this is a short chappie. It's becasue it is the first. I promise the rest will be a lot longer. Please read and Review! Cheers. Please go to my profile page as I have a little announcement!


	2. Invitations

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thank you very, very much for all your kind Reviews. Thanks you to everyone. I hope you like the next chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter Two

"Why is it that every time I come over for a game, it starts to rain?" Ron asked as he collapsed onto the sofa.

"Maybe it's Merlin's way of saving your dignity since I'll probably show you up!" Damien answered as he carried over five bottles of butterbeer and handed them to the surrounding teens.

Ron only gave him a frustrated look.

"You really are full of yourself." he responded back. Damien took a gulp of his bottle and only smirked back at his friend.

Hermione and Ginny were sitting next to the fire as Harry, Ron and Damien were stretched out comfortably on the sofas in the main living room.

There was an Order meeting happening a few rooms away so Harry and the rest were trying to keep themselves occupied with something to do. Unfortunately, the weather was against them and the heavy rain was forcing them to stay indoors and do nothing but lounge around in Potter Manor.

Harry didn't even know why the Order was still having regular meetings. The Order of the Phoenix was a secret society set up for fighting against Voldemort. If there was no more Voldemort, then why did the Order continue to exist? Harry kept his questions to himself. He didn't want to get into any discussions regarding the Order. Harry still had a lot of resentment towards them.

"Can you believe all the catching up we are going to have to do this year? I mean N.E.W.T.S are difficult as it is, but we are going to have to catch up on last year's material as well." Hermione was talking to Ginny but everyone in the room heard her concerns.

Harry diverted his gaze from them. He knew that he was largely responsible for Hogwarts closing earlier in the year. It was his fault that Hogwarts was deemed 'not safe' and had to shut down. Death Eaters had come onto Hogwarts grounds to take Harry, it had caused a lot of parents to pull their children out of the school. And if that wasn't enough, Harry had then organised an attack on Hogwarts Express. Harry felt the uncomfortable churn in his stomach as memories of all his previous behaviours came rushing back at him. He really had caused a lot of mayhem.

Damien was also trying to look away. He was trying not to look at Harry. They all had received their Hogwarts letters that very morning, all, except Harry of course. Damien had thought that after everything Harry had done, he would have been asked to come back to Hogwarts. It was only fair. But there had only been one letter bearing the Hogwarts crest delivered in the morning.

Damien could see that Harry was trying to act like he wasn't bothered about not returning to Hogwarts, but he could see through his mask. Everyone loved Hogwarts, even Voldemort held Hogwarts in a high place. He had called it his home. Damien knew that Harry was going to regret not coming to Hogwarts. Not to mention how lonely and bored Harry would be once he and the rest were going to be away.

"I can't believe they sent the letters today. It's only a week until term starts. They should have sent the letters weeks ago!" Hermione said, with an expression on her face that showed her disappointment.

"Well, they have been busy with…other things, you know." Ginny said a little hesitantly. Everyone in the wizarding world was too caught up with the celebrations, marking the fall of Voldemort, to go back to their daily lives and jobs.

Hermione and Ginny continued talking about Hogwarts, oblivious to the tension it was creating in the room. Harry looked around for something to talk about so that he would not have to listen to all the school talk. He was spared as voices filled the hall outside, indicating that the Order meeting was over.

A moment later the door opened and Tonks stuck her head in to greet them.

"Wotcher!" she said happily and came inside.

Harry, Ron and Damien all sat up as Tonks came in and joined them. Harry watched as Tonks chatted animatedly to all of them. He found himself liking Tonks more and more each day. She had spent a lot of time with him over the past few weeks. Tonks reminded Harry strongly of someone he had still not stopped loving. It wasn't all that strange really. Tonks and Bella were related after all. It wasn't that Tonks looked like Bella or anything like that but there was something about her that strongly resembled Bella. Some of her mannerisms were like Bella. The strong sense of loyalty was present in both of them, while Bella was a faithful follower of Voldemort, Tonks showed the same devotion to the light side.

Tonks was a lot younger and a lot more carefree than Bella. She would continuously make Harry and Damien laugh by changing her appearance. Harry found himself caught off guard once when Tonks changed her short purple hair to long dark locks. Her resemblance to Bella was a lot more prominent then. It was only for an instant as her hair turned yellow and shrunk to short spikes seconds later. Harry was brought out of his thoughts as the door opened and a small group entered. Harry saw the excited look on his dad's face and knew that something had happened. James was followed by Lily, Arthur, Molly, Sirius, Remus and McGonagall. Harry found his smile slip away from his face. 'What is McGonagall still doing here?' Harry thought to himself.

Hermione had a look of excitement cross her features as McGonagall came into the room. The stern looking witch gave Hermione a small shadow of a smile. Harry was surprised to see her looking quite tired. She was still talking quietly with Lily as she came into the room. The Hogwarts students quickly greeted their Professor while Harry chose to remain silent.

"I have the best news!" James started excitedly.

Harry caught Lily give McGonagall a sarcastic look and both woman sank onto the sofa.

"What happened?" Damien asked at once.

James stuck out his chest proudly and had a smug look on his face.

"Well, there has been a change to the Hogwarts staff this year. Guess who's coming to teach Defence against the Dark Arts?" James asked with a wide grin on his face.

James quickly answered his own question, not giving anyone even a chance to answer.

"Me! I'm going to be your new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher!"

Silence was met at James' words.

"Alright, don't everyone congratulate me at once." James said sounding a little put out.

"You! You're going to be at Hogwarts. You're my teacher!" Damien asked, shock present on his face.

Harry had to stifle a laugh at his brother's reaction. The rest didn't look like they minded at all. In fact, they looked quite thrilled at having an Auror teach them.

"That's great. Congratulations, Mr Potter. But, um…why are you teaching? I mean, what happened to Professor Snape?" Hermione asked politely.

Harry was wondering the same thing.

"Professor Snape's gone for a long vacation. He said to Professor Dumbledore that since he's been working under very stressful circumstances for the last two decades, that he deserves a break." McGonagall answered for James.

"As if the rest of us didn't work under _stressful_ circumstances." Sirius added in a near whisper.

"Where did he go?" Damien asked, always letting curiosity get the better of him.

"We didn't ask. It was his private business." McGonagall answered.

"He should take the chance to go somewhere hot. I dare say he desperately needs a tan." Ron said with a grin on his face.

Harry tried not to laugh at the mental image of Snape, lying on the beach in some remote place. He shook his head trying to clear the disturbing image.

Hermione started asking McGonagall questions regarding the seventh year curriculum at Hogwarts. Harry took his chance to slip out of the room. He gathered up the empty butterbeer bottles from the table and headed to the kitchen. He honestly didn't mind the fact that he wasn't going to Hogwarts. He just didn't like everyone else talking about it.

He dropped his empty bottles into the bin and took a deep sigh. 'So, everyone's going to Hogwarts, even both of my parents'. He wondered if his parents would trust him enough to leave him living alone in Potter manor. He answered his own thoughts by laughing to himself. He wouldn't be allowed to live by himself. It didn't matter that he had dealt with much more frightening things than living on his own. It didn't matter that he had lived on his own for the last six months, with practically everyone in the wizarding world out looking for his blood. To his parents he was just a teen who wouldn't be capable of looking after himself.

'Maybe I could live with Remus or perhaps Sirius'. He squashed the idea of living with Sirius. He didn't think he could stand to be in Grimmauld Place for an entire year.

The sound of footsteps alerted Harry to the fact that someone was coming towards the kitchen. He turned around to see Ginny walk inside. She was alone. Harry smiled at her as she walked over to him and planted a small kiss on his cheek.

"You okay?" she whispered as she draped her arms around his torso.

Harry smiled at her in response.

"Why shouldn't I be?" he asked.

"I just thought with everyone going on about Hogwarts, it might be annoying." She answered.

Harry took a moment to figure out his thoughts.

"It's not annoying. It's just…I know everyone's excited about going back and that's fine but I just wish they would talk about it when I'm not there." he answered back.

Ginny let go of Harry, sensing that he was uncomfortable with her hugging him. She slipped her hand into his instead. Harry loved how intuitive Ginny was. He never had to ask for space, she just gave it to him whenever he needed it.

"You know, there was a part of me that really thought you would be asked to return to Hogwarts. I didn't think Professor Dumbledore would exclude you like that." Ginny said with disappointment evident on her face.

Harry leant casually against the worktop, still holding her hand.

"Well, to be fair, I did test his patience a bit too far." He said with a smirk.

At Ginny's questioning look, Harry explained.

"I didn't treat the school like an actual school. I never paid attention to any of the classes, ridiculed his staff, I actually caused Death Eaters to come onto the grounds of Hogwarts, attacked Hogwarts Express and then, just to make sure I really pissed him off, I set the Main hall on fire."

Ginny's brown eyes widened with shock.

"When did you set the hall on fire?" she asked in genuine surprise.

"When I went to get the Gryffindor Sword. Blake turned up with a handful of Aurors. It was the only thing I could do to escape." Harry answered.

Ginny's face relaxed. She turned to look at Harry with a smirk.

"Well, when you put it that way, I'm shocked they haven't called you back. You make everything so much more interesting." She teased.

Harry only smiled back at her. After a few minutes, both made their way back to the living room. Harry was hoping McGonagall had left but was disappointed to see she was still there.

A few minutes later, McGonagall got up and fastened up her cloak.

"I should get going. I have so many things to do." She told Lily.

McGonagall took a step towards the door but then stopped abruptly. She turned around, looking for someone. Her eyes settled on Harry and she quickly strode towards him.

"I almost forgot…here, Mr Potter, this is for you." she said as she pulled something out from her robes pocket.

"I apologise for it not arriving at the same time as the others. I don't know how but a few of these went missing. I thought I would deliver it by hand since I was coming here today." McGonagall continued as she held out an envelope.

Harry took the envelope from her, not really taking in her words. He looked at the envelope, which had his name printed clearly on the front in green ink.

Damien was at Harry's side in a moment. He looked at the envelope in Harry's hands and let out a cry of joy.

"Harry! It's your Hogwarts letter!" he told him.

Harry looked up to see McGonagall leaving the room, with his parents walking her to the front door. Ron, Hermione and Ginny were wearing looks of joy as Harry stood with the letter still clutched in his hand.

"Open it!" Damien said, looking as if he would like to grab the letter from him and open it himself.

Harry turned the envelope over and looked at the Hogwarts crest, sealing the letter. 'It can't be' he thought to himself. He couldn't possibly be asked to come back to Hogwarts. It just wasn't possible.

Harry opened the envelope and carefully pulled out the letter. He was expecting it to be something else, not his invitation to Hogwarts. His heart skipped several beats as he read the letter, inviting him to attend Hogwarts for the seventh year, listing all the supplies he would need and at last, instructions to board the Hogwarts express on the 1st of September.

"I knew it! I just knew they wouldn't leave you out!" Ron said happily.

Harry didn't say anything. He was still holding the letter but his eyes weren't focused on it. He was lost in his thoughts. Remus was watching Harry closely. He could see the lost look Harry wore before his eyes hardened and a look of annoyance crossed his features.

"Harry…" Remus started but was cut off as James and Lily came back inside the room.

"Well, what can I say? I knew that I was one of the best Aurors around but to be asked to teach Defence at Hogwarts! Well, if that doesn't say how great I am then nothing will." James said as he took a mock bow before the room.

"Aw, there's the modest man I married." Lily joked.

"Lily, do you want to meet up at Diagon Alley tomorrow? We can get all the supplies then, the kids can meet up as well." Molly asked.

"That sounds like a plan." Lily said with a smile.

James and Lily had not noticed that Harry was still clutching the letter in his hand. Remus looked worriedly over at him before turning his attention to James.

Ron, Ginny and Hermione were all getting ready to leave, all chatting excitedly about tomorrows shopping trip. Ginny noticed the awkward goodbye Harry said to them and knew that Harry was annoyed. Before she could talk to him, her mum was pulling her towards the door, intending to get back home quickly to prepare dinner. Ginny left with the rest, hoping that Harry was okay.

Lily began tidying the living room, picking up the cushions from the floor and returning them to the sofas.

"I can get the rest of my shopping done tomorrow as well. Harry, does your letter say anything about dress robes? I'm sure we need new ones for you. I don't like the ones we got last year." Lily was too busy talking her thoughts aloud to notice Harry's expression.

She stopped in her tracks as Harry spoke.

"I'm not going."

Everyone turned their attention towards Harry. That was when James noticed the letter crumpled up in Harry's hand. Both of his hands were curled into fists and his green eyes were clouded with annoyance.

James found himself cursing softly under his breath. What had happened now?

"You don't want to come to Diagon Alley?" Lily asked, hoping that that was what Harry meant.

"I'm not going to Hogwarts, so I don't need anything from Diagon Alley." Harry answered simply.

Damien was still standing next to Harry. He was looking at him with confusion. 'Harry didn't want to go? But why?'

"You don't want to go to Hogwarts?" Sirius was the one who had asked the question.

"I'm not going to Hogwarts." Harry repeated his answer and started to walk towards the door, intending to go to his room.

"Harry, wait. I think we should discuss this." James said, trying to regain control of the situation.

"There's nothing to discuss. It's my decision whether or not to go to Hogwarts and I've decided that I'm not going." Harry said, still in an oddly calm and controlled voice.

"It's not just your decision. I think we have a say as well. You should at least tell us why you don't want to go." Lily responded.

"I don't need to go. There isn't really anything the school can offer me." Harry answered.

James shared a look with Lily, warning her to not say anything.

"Harry, you're going to need to complete your education. Nowadays there aren't many jobs you could do without a handful of N.E.W.T.S. I think it would be beneficial for you to graduate from Hogwarts." James explained as gently as he could.

"Can't you let me decide this for myself? I'm seventeen. If I decide I don't want to go then you should accept that as well." Harry replied, starting to lose the careful hold on his anger.

"Maybe, we should discuss this afterwards. We need to talk about this properly." James said, casting Lily a weary look. He didn't want to argue with Harry. If they talked about it later, maybe Harry would be a lot calmer.

"I told you, dad. There isn't anything to discuss." Harry argued back stubbornly before leaving the room. Harry went upstairs to his room, ignoring the shouts behind him.

Harry didn't want the discussion to go on. He had made his mind up and that was that. It wasn't that Harry didn't want to go to Hogwarts; it was more that he felt he couldn't go. After everything that had happened at Hogwarts, Harry didn't feel like he belonged there. It had closed down because of him. How could he go back to it? There was also the issue with Harry's nightly torment. How could he hide his nightmares when he would be sharing his room with four other boys? How long before someone found out about his nightmares? They would make him talk about it, talk about Voldemort. Harry couldn't deal with that. It was much safer to be by himself, away from others.

The other reason was Albus Dumbledore. Harry couldn't bear to think about himself being in his school under his control. The very thought made Harry's skin crawl. He didn't want to be manipulated and used again. Never again.

Harry had just managed to calm his thoughts down when his door opened and Damien came in.

"What's going on?" he asked with a mix of shock and anger on his face.

"Nothing's going on." Harry said emotionlessly.

"Then why are you acting like a five year old? You were sulking when you thought you weren't going to Hogwarts, and now that you are going, you're still sulking. Stop with your childish tantrums and come downstairs." Damien told his older brother.

"Piss off, Damien. I'm not sulking. I have my reasons for not going." Harry stopped himself. He didn't want to get involved in explaining why he couldn't go.

"Why don't you want to go? What reasons could you have?" Damien stopped as well and a thought crossed his mind.

"You're not scared are you? I mean of facing everyone, because you shouldn't be." Damien tried to comfort him.

"Please, Damy, as if I'm bothered about what a bunch of school children think of me. I have better things to worry about." Harry stopped again, cursing mentally. He was letting out too much information.

"What are you talking about? Harry, is everything okay?" Damien took a step nearer but stopped as Harry gave him a glare.

"Of course I'm okay! Why wouldn't I be? Just go!" he snapped at Damien.

Damien stood for a moment, looking as if he was going to argue, but then he spun on his heel and walked towards the door.

"When you calm down and realise what a prat you've been, come downstairs." Damien said before leaving.

Harry collapsed onto his bed, head held in his hands. He didn't want to snap at Damien, he was only trying to help, but Harry could hardly control his emotions. Harry knew he would make it up to Damien afterwards. He just couldn't be bothered with any debates or arguments just now.

xxx

Damien had told the rest to leave Harry alone. He was sulking and didn't want anyone to talk to him. James wanted to go up and talk to Harry. He didn't know a lot about Harry but the one thing that he did know was that Harry wasn't one to throw childish tantrums and sulk over nothing. Something more complicated was bothering him and James needed to know what it was.

When it came to dinner time, Lily called for Harry to come downstairs. After a few minutes, everyone was gathered around the table except for Harry. Remus offered to go upstairs and get him. Remus wanted an opportunity to talk to Harry alone. The rest might not be able to understand what Harry was doing, but Remus could see it clearly.

Remus knocked softly on Harry's door before entering. Harry was sitting up on his bed, a book held in his hands, but he wasn't reading it. Remus could tell, just by the way Harry was holding it.

"Dinner's ready." Remus said as he came inside the room.

"Thanks, but I'm not hungry just now." Harry said still not looking away from the book.

Remus came over and sat next to Harry.

"Is it any good?" Remus asked.

Harry shrugged and closed the book to look at the cover.

"It's just the same as any other book." He answered.

"I wasn't talking about the book." Remus said with a tired smile.

Harry looked up at him.

"I meant was it any good to hide your true feelings about why you don't want to go to Hogwarts."

Harry didn't reply, so Remus continued.

"I know what you're doing, Harry. It's not going to work. James and Lily would never let you get away with something like that."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked a hint of annoyance in his tone.

"I felt like you did, when I had to go to Hogwarts for the very first time. You know that I was bit by a werewolf when I was just a kid. I never thought I would get to attend Hogwarts. It just wasn't possible. When I got my letter, I reacted like you did. Made up excuses that meant I couldn't go. I was convinced that I didn't belong there. However great the school was, I was not meant to be a part of it."

Harry looked away as he felt his stomach flip in anxiety.

"That's how you feel, don't you. You think you don't belong in Hogwarts because of your past."

Harry looked up to meet Remus' eyes.

"It doesn't matter about what I feel. It's the truth and everyone knows it. They're just trying to ignore it." Harry answered.

"I know that me telling you that you do belong in Hogwarts isn't going to make you believe it but I'm going to say it anyway. You belong there just as much as anybody else. You can't let the guilt of your past weigh you down. It won't do anything good for you. I know that you will probably have to put up with a lot, a lot of good things as well as bad, but that's life." Remus told him with a sad smile.

"I don't think me going to Hogwarts is going to make anything better. If anything, it will just make situations tenser. I don't like the idea of Dumbledore putting me up as some sort of hero, I don't…I can't explain it, I just don't want to be under his control." Harry said without really meaning to say those words out aloud.

Remus stilled for a moment before forcibly relaxing again. He patted Harry on the shoulder before getting up to go.

"I know you don't trust him, I can understand why. But Harry, you have to let yourself believe that you have people in your life now that won't let anyone control you. James and Lily would never let you get manipulated again. You should trust them."

With that said, Remus left, letting Harry think over his words.

xxx

Lily was busy trying to get Damien and James to get ready for the shopping trip in Diagon Alley. They had to get to the Leaky Cauldron in twenty minutes to meet up with the Weasleys. She had not spoken to Harry since yesterday. Harry had refused to eat anything and had kept to his room. Lily had managed to keep James from confronting him. She knew that Harry was only trying to think things over. She had been a little harsh with him last night. She understood now that Harry was probably getting nervous about dealing with all these people after what had happened with Voldemort. Harry had left Hogwarts with Death Eaters and would be returning back like a normal student. It had to be nerve wracking. She was just about to go upstairs with a plate of breakfast when Harry came into the living room, fully dressed, ready to leave.

Lily stared at her eldest son, dressed in his muggle clothes. Before she could open her mouth to ask what was going on, Harry spoke up.

"You know that we're going to get late if you all keep on staring at me like that."

Lily couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her. Harry had changed his mind. His talk with Remus had worked. Harry was going to Hogwarts. Damien gave Harry an odd look but continued to pull on his shoes.

"Did you get the list with your supplies on it?" James asked with a small smile.

Harry gave him a smirk and walked towards the door.

"I don't need it." he answered. Harry watched as both his parents faces fell with disappointment. Harry let them think he wasn't going to Hogwarts for a moment or two before speaking.

"I've got everything memorised. I am the great Auror James Potter's son after all. With a mind like mine, you don't need a list." Harry teased as he directed his answer at his dad.

James and Lily both gave relieved laughs before hurrying towards Harry. Damien gave Harry a grin as he waked outside.

"You can't help but torment them, can you?" Damien said as they walked to the edge of the appartation wards.

Harry smiled back before putting his arm around his brother's shoulder.

"It wouldn't be a normal day for me if I didn't get them worked up about something." Harry joked back.

"So what changed your mind?" Damien asked quietly.

Harry didn't answer. He looked at his parents, who were busy talking to each other.

"I figured I would give Hogwarts a chance. After all, my entire family is going to be there. I don't want to be the only one left out." He finally answered.

Damien laughed along with Harry as he held his hand and apparated to Diagon Alley along with his parents.

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Please let me know what you think? I promise that the story does have an actual plot. It isn't just about Harry healing, there are darker forces at work. (evil wink) Please Review.


	3. First night at Hogwarts

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Hiya! Thanks for all your reviews. Here's the next Chappie, enjoy!

**Chapter Three**

The usual chaos that was associated with Platform 9 ¾ seemed to be even more so this year. Whether it was just the excitement over Hogwarts re-opening or due to the fact that this year there was no fear of an attack, since there was no more Voldemort, but it seemed to fill everyone with positive energy. The students seemed to rush into the scarlet train enthusiastically, saying frantic goodbyes to their parents.

Harry watched as the train began to pull out of the station and settled back in his seat. Damien was already pulling out his notebook, planning all sorts of pranks that _had_ to be done this year, leaving Harry to his thoughts.

They had all arrived early so that they could board the train without much commotion. James and Lily had gone into the teacher compartment, near the front of the train while Harry and Damien had chosen a quiet compartment near the back. Damien informed Harry that this was the usual compartment that he, Ron and Hermione sat in.

Harry's mind was buzzing with thoughts. He had so much to figure out. He had decided to come along to Hogwarts since he figured that Remus was right. It was time he put a little trust in his parents. He knew that he wasn't quite ready to face people such as Albus Dumbledore, since he had still not figured out what he felt about destroying Voldemort. His nightmares were going to be difficult to deal with, especially with four other boys in the room, but Harry figured he could just cast 'Silencio' around his bed. He didn't pay much attention to how all the students might treat him. He wasn't bothered about that. If they ignored him or were wary about him that would suit him fine. If they tried to be too friendly with him, Harry had ways of dealing with that as well. He might be going to Hogwarts of his own choice this year but that didn't mean he was going to change his attitude about certain things. He was still Harry; he could be as mean and as arrogant as he wanted if it kept others away from him.

His train of thoughts was broken as the doors to his compartment opened and three people walked in. Ron, Hermione and Ginny came inside the compartment, huge grins plastered on their faces at the sight of Harry sitting with Damien, ready to attend Hogwarts.

"I still can't believe you're coming to Hogwarts this year. It's wicked!" Ron said sitting down opposite Harry.

Ginny sat down next to Harry, slipping her hand into his as she sat down.

"I think the school agrees with me. You make things so much more interesting!" Ginny whispered with a sly smile.

Harry couldn't help but smile back at her.

The rest of the journey was spent talking amongst themselves. Harry, Damien, Ginny and Ron had a game of exploding snap while Hermione buried herself into her notes. She looked happier than ever as she told them all how much work they were going to have to do this year. Ron just muttered something about her being 'mad' and 'obsessed' before tuning her out.

"It seems your dad's quite excited about teaching." Ginny said after they had finished their third game of exploding snap.

"I know." Damien said with a heavy sigh.

"As if having mum there wasn't bad enough but now I have dad there as well. Do you realise how much harder I'm going to have to work? I can hardly pull any pranks with both my parents there!" Damien continued.

"Do you know, for a minute there, I thought you were talking about actual school work!" Hermione said with a disapproving look on her face.

Damien gave her a mock glare but didn't say anything.

Ron and Hermione had to go into the Prefect compartment to take care of their prefect duties, leaving the other three by themselves. They came back just as the train started to slow down. Everyone got dressed into their school robes. Harry could feel anxiety build in the pit of his stomach. He was going back to Hogwarts! He remembered how different the circumstances had been when he came here last year. He had not ridden the Hogwarts Express, but had flooed to Hogwarts instead. He remembered the conversation he had with Dumbledore in his office. Harry had been so angry with Dumbledore for forcibly bringing him to Hogwarts and then not sorting him but placing him in Gryffindor. He hoped that his first night in Hogwarts was going to be different this year.

xxx

The main doors opened and the flood of students poured in, eager to get out of the cold. Harry was glad that no one had really noticed him so far. Everyone was focusing on getting out of the cold and inside the school.

As Harry walked into the main hall he found the décor to have changed. He looked around and saw that everyone else had noticed as well and were quietly discussing it with each other. It wasn't much that had changed but it was still noticeable. The colour of the walls was much brighter and the curtains looked newer.

"Looks to me like they took advantage of the fire and renovated!" Ginny whispered so only Harry could hear her.

Harry thought the same and let another small smile come to his face. At least he had changed Hogwarts a little bit.

He saw Professor McGonagall approach the grand stairs and watched as her presence caused a hush to fall over the chattering crowd. Her stern eyes roamed around the room until everyone had turned their attention to her.

"Welcome, students of Hogwarts! Please follow me to the Great Hall."

With that, she turned around and marched her way to the Great hall, with the students following her.

"She says the same thing every single year." Damien informed Harry.

It was when the students moved into the brightly lit Great Hall, that they noticed Harry's presence. It had been too dark to notice anyone outside and whilst they were in the Main hall, everyone was too busy noticing the changed décor. Now, however, the students saw that Harry was walking amongst them. Harry was walking alongside with Damien with Ron, Hermione and Ginny around him. As expected, whispering started and the majority of the students stopped in their tracks.

Harry continued walking, acting as if he was oblivious to all the attention he was getting. From the inside, Harry was panicking. He hated attention, especially this kind of attention. He hated people staring at him, whispering about him. He focused on getting to his table and sitting down. He knew this was going to happen, it was inevitable, but it didn't make him like the situation any better. Most of his life he had been hidden away by Voldemort. Only a handful of people knew about him and had met him. It was difficult to deal with so many people focusing their attention on him.

Harry sat down at the Gryffindor table with Damien and his friends sitting around him. The students had taken their respective seats at their tables as well. The whispering didn't stop but seemed to intensify. All the students were looking over at him. Some were craning their necks to look at him but would quickly recover their positions if Harry looked over at them. Harry smiled, knowing that the majority of the students were still terrified of him. As he thought this, however, he saw many students giving him shy smiles and some even waved, albeit hesitantly at him. Harry ignored them.

Harry looked over at the staff table and his eyes met with twinkling midnight blue ones at once. Harry only let his gaze stay with Dumbledore for a moment or two before looking past him. He distracted his attention by looking at the two smiling people sitting next to each other at the staff table. James and Lily gave Harry a small wave and smiled at him. Harry smiled back before looking at the rest of Hogwarts staff. There were no new additions to the staff and with the exception of Snape, everyone else was present.

The doors to the Great Hall opened again and a stream of extremely small and scared looking children came inside. Harry looked over as the doors opened and saw Neville Longbottom, sitting near the end of the Gryffindor table. Harry had not seen or spoken to Neville since the last battle. He had met Frank and Alice, who had personally thanked him for saving Nigel. Neville had come along to Potter Manor but hadn't said anything to Harry. It seemed that most of the students were staring at Neville as well as he had stormed out of the castle the previous year. It seemed he was the focus of attention as well as Harry was. Harry looked away from Neville. He was too tired to deal with him today.

The group of terrified first years gathered near the front of the hall, shaking with nerves. Harry was curious to see the sorting begin; he hadn't seen anyone being sorted before.

The whispering of the students died down as Professor Dumbledore stood up to face them all.

"Welcome to Hogwarts! I have great pleasure in welcoming all of you back to Hogwarts. Before the sorting takes place I have a little announcement."

Harry felt his heart speed up. He could just tell that this 'little announcement' had something to do with him.

"I know it is customary for our first year students to be sorted before anything else happens but I hope that everyone will excuse me for changing the schedule a little. I have to right a wrong." Dumbledore continued.

The hall was eerily silent. For most students it was hard to think of the great Albus Dumbledore to have done anything wrong. They were all staring at him, waiting anxiously to hear what he had done.

"Mr Harry Potter! Please come to the front." Dumbledore's voice rang out in the hall.

Harry felt his heart skip a beat as his name was called. Everyone's eyes fell on him. He was staring at Dumbledore, silently cursing him for doing this. Was it not enough that everyone was already focusing all their attention on him, that Dumbledore had to call Harry to stand in front of the entire school?

Damien, Ginny, Ron and Hermione were all staring at Harry as well, scared expressions on their faces. They weren't afraid of why Harry was being called to the front but more scared of how Harry was going to react. Harry slowly rose out of his seat, never letting his eyes move away from Dumbledore's smiling face.

James and Lily were looking panicky as well and James started to rise out of his seat before Professor Sprout stopped him. Harry walked over to stand before Dumbledore as calmly as he could. He was trying to think of all the things he could have done that would make Dumbledore call him to stand in front of everyone. 'If he mentions Voldemort, I'll kill him!' he thought as his hands curled into fists. Harry thought that maybe Dumbledore was going to make a speech on what had happened in Hogsmeade between Harry and Voldemort. He was not going to be Dumbledore's little pin up hero. He wasn't going to put up with it.

Harry stood before the Headmaster and waited for him to speak. Surprisingly it was Professor McGonagall who spoke to him.

"Please take a seat, Mr Potter." she said as she gestured towards a three legged stool.

Harry was momentarily startled. From all the things he had been expecting, this was not one. He looked up at his equally surprised looking parents before looking at Dumbledore again.

"I believe I owe you a sorting." Dumbledore told him with a smile.

Harry felt all the anger leave him. He couldn't stop the small smile that came to his face. He was going to be sorted! He moved forward to sit on the stool and gracefully sat down. That was when Harry noticed the mass of students staring at him. For a moment there, Harry had almost forgotten that the entire school was watching. At once Harry's face began to heat up. He knew that the sorting hat spoke to you and told you all the reasons why you should be in whichever house, but he didn't know if the only person to hear the hat was yourself or the entire school! He had never asked Draco that.

It was too late to wonder now as Professor McGonagall placed the ragged looking hat onto Harry's head. Harry caught the look on Damien's face. He was looking mortified that Harry was going to be sorted. Harry knew that Damien was scared that Harry would be placed in a different house and then he wouldn't get to be in the same common room as Harry and wouldn't be able to spend time with him. A bored sounding voice filled Harry's head and Harry found himself holding his breath.

"_Well, well, well. I see I have the pleasure to sort the great Harry Potter after all._" Harry chuckled quietly to himself. It sounded as if the hat was even more upset than he was at not being sorted.

"_I think that you know which house you truly belong to. You knew it even last year but you fought against it needlessly. You have plenty of traits, good and bad that would make you suitable for virtually any house. You have plenty of courage but you can be cunning at times and will strive to achieve what you set your mind too. You are intelligent enough but fail to show it at times. Loyalty is another strong point for you and one that will probably be the most tested."_ The hat continued.

Harry felt his heart constrict painfully at the last words the hat said. His loyalty had been tested and Harry felt that he ultimately failed. He had killed the one he had proclaimed his loyalty to. Harry tried to shake away his guilt. He couldn't deal with that just now.

"_Well, I guess the decision is clear. You have two blood lines in you that would make you equally suitable in either house, but I think I will place you in…GRYFFINDOR!" _

Harry let out his breath as an ear splitting roar filled the hall. The Gryffindors were cheering loudly with Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Damien leading them on more energetically than ever.

Harry was glad that he was in Gryffindor. Aside from everything else, he didn't feel as connected to Slytherin as he did when he was with Voldemort. He was only proud of being the heir to Slytherin because of Voldemort. Now he felt that his Slytherin blood line was just another reminder to what he had lost.

Harry walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down. Damien was grinning like mad.

"Oh Merlin! I swear, I think I nearly had a heart attack when you sat on that stool! I can't believe you got sorted. Thank God you're still in Gryffindor." Damien told him with a sigh of relief.

Harry couldn't help but grin back at the expressions on his brother and friends faces. He looked back up at the staff table to see Dumbledore looking at him. He raised his goblet and gave him a small nod before drinking. Harry returned the nod and looked away. He felt so much better sitting at the Gryffindor table now, since he wasn't sitting here because he had been told to but because he _belonged_ there.

xxx

Harry walked up the winding staircases and tried to listen to what Ron was saying. He was feeling very tired all of a sudden. His lack of sleep over the last week and the very full dinner he had just had was making it hard to keep his eyes open. His first night at Hogwarts had been very memorable. The first year students had been sorted right after Harry had been sorted. Then Professor Dumbledore had introduced James to the school as their next Defence against the Dark Arts teacher. Harry couldn't help the smile that came as James stood nervously before the students. He didn't look as brave as he was back at Potter Manor. Damien ducked his head in mock shame and shook his head from side to side, causing Ron, Hermione and Ginny to break into fits of silent giggles. Harry was watching his brother closely. He knew that Damien was only pretending to be ashamed. He silently loved the fact that his dad was with him as well as the rest of his family. Last year had been a very tough year for him and he deserved to have all his family with him at last.

Harry wasn't surprised that his room and room-mates were the same as last year. He quickly got changed into his night clothes and crept into bed, ignoring everyone else in the room.

"Tired, Harry?" Ron asked with a grin as he settled into bed as well.

"Completely exhausted!" Harry answered.

"Well, get all the rest you can. Tomorrow's going to be hectic. I bet you we get homework for every single class tomorrow." Ron said while stifling a yawn.

"At least Hermione will be happy." Harry answered.

"Yeah, mad isn't she?" Ron said sounding as if he had a big grin on his face.

"Hmm" Harry answered as he rolled over and settled comfortably in his bed.

He had ignored the other two boys in the room. Dean and Seamus got into their beds as well. Neville was nowhere in sight. Harry didn't bother thinking about him. He was too busy reliving his first few hours at Hogwarts. He couldn't believe how different he felt to last year when he had spent his first night at Hogwarts, starving and seething with fury. He had fallen into an uneasy sleep back then. Harry smiled as the memory came back to him. He had acted like such a brat then. He fell into a comfortable sleep before thinking one last thought.

'This year's going to be very different.'

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Yes, this year's going to be very different, Harry just doesn't know how different! (evil laugh) Anyways, please review to let me know what you thought of this chapter. Cheers!


	4. Fame

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers. Here's the next chappie, enjoy!

**Chapter Four**

The first few days went by very quickly in Harry's opinion. Before he knew what was happening, it was Thursday morning and Harry was making his way to his first Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Damien had attended his first Defence class earlier that week and had told Harry that their dad was actually quite a good teacher. He was surprisingly strict, something that Damien found rather annoying as he wasn't used to his dad being stricter than his mum. Harry was quite eager to see his dad in action. It was going to be an interesting class.

He walked into the Defence classroom and sat down with Ron and Hermione seated next to him. He spotted his dad standing in front of the class, looking quite calm and collected. His hazel eyes lit up as they landed on Harry but he didn't say anything. Harry pulled out his books and the new wand that James had bought him in Diagon Alley. Harry liked his new wand. It was black, eleven inches with a phoenix feather as its core. But try as he might, he couldn't stop himself from mourning the loss of his own wand. His original wand had been taken from him when he went to the Riddle Manor. Harry had a strong suspicion that Voldemort had Harry's wand on him when he went to Hogsmeade that day. Harry had destroyed his wand along with Voldemort, without meaning to.

He looked up as Hermione gently elbowed him. Her brown eyes were filled with concern. Harry realised that he was still holding his new wand and had been looking at it for the last few minutes or so. He quickly put the wand down onto the desk and gave Hermione a look that clearly said, 'I'm fine, stop staring at me!' Hermione looked away, still looking concerned.

"Good Morning."

James' voice cut through the whispering class and everyone settled down and turned their attention to their Professor.

"For those of you who don't know who I am, a short introduction is in order." James continued addressing all of his students.

"My name is James Potter. I am an Auror and have been working with the Ministry for the last twenty years. Professor Dumbledore asked me to fill the position as your Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor this year, seeing as Professor Snape had to take temporary leave." James finished, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly as he resisted the urge to smile.

Harry knew that he was also having the mental image of Snape lying, sun bathing on a remote island somewhere.

"Now, I have a note of what was covered last year but I think a refresher course should be done. It has been a long break for all of us." James tried not to look over at Harry but it was hard to ignore him. His eyes met Harry's briefly and James was relieved to see that he didn't look angry or annoyed at what he had said. Everyone knew that it was partly Harry's fault the school had closed last year. Thankfully, this didn't seem to bother Harry in the least.

The class went on with James going over some of the basics of last year's N.E.W.T.S level Defence material. He was quite good at explaining the hexes and jinxes in more detail without making it sound dry and boring. Harry was secretly thankful that James didn't single him out as he feared he might. James didn't ignore Harry but treated him just as another student. As the class made its way out at the end, James asked for the three Gryffindors to wait behind. As soon as the door closed, James turned to face them, his mask fell away to show how excited the Auror was.

"How was that? Did you guys think it went okay? I wasn't boring was I?" he asked, eyes sparkling with excitement.

"You did really well, Mr Potter. Sorry, I mean Professor Potter." Hermione said with a smile on her face.

"Yeah, I didn't daydream even once." Ron said, obviously thinking that he was giving the best compliment ever.

James' face split into a grin very reminiscent of Damien. James turned around to face his eldest son.

"Harry?" he asked.

Harry fought to keep his expression neutral. With effort, he shrugged his shoulders and kept his eyes fixed on his father before answering.

"You did okay, except you mixed up two of the hexes. You got a bit muddled up I guess, but as long as it doesn't come up in the exams, no one will know."

James looked mortified.

"I did what! Oh God. I knew I was going to mess up something. Which two did I mix up? Great, that's all I need..." James stopped talking as he spotted Ron trying to stifle his laughter and Hermione's disapproving look directed at Harry. Relief flooded him as realised that Harry was only winding him up.

He turned to look sternly at Harry who was also fighting the urge to laugh. Harry gave James an innocent look before his face split into a grin.

"There is a time and a place to pull pranks, Harry." James said, but couldn't help smiling at how well Harry had freaked him out.

"You're right." Harry said as he headed towards the door.

"But as a Marauder, you would have to agree that the place is Hogwarts and the time is any time." Harry gave James a cheeky grin before leaving with Ron and Hermione.

James couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day.

xxx

"Hey, how was it?" Damien asked as his brother and friends sat down at the Gryffindor table for lunch. He was referring to the Defence class they had that morning.

"Good. It's going to be so much fun, freaking him out." Harry answered as he poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice.

Damien laughed as Ron told him what Harry had done.

"That was not funny. You had Professor Potter really worried." Hermione said, wearing another disapproving look on her face.

"Lighten up, Mione. Dad's got a good sense of humour. Besides, what Harry did was nothing compared to all the pranks dad and the rest of the Marauders pulled on the Professors when they were at Hogwarts." Damien told her.

Harry was distracted as a group of giggling girls walked past the Gryffindor table. They looked at Harry and gave him the sweetest smiles they could before greeting him. Harry rolled his eyes and looked away, completely ignoring them.

Harry had known that he was going to get some attention when he came to Hogwarts but he hadn't quite realised _how much_ attention he was going to get. He was surprised that most of the students greeted him and tried to be on speaking terms with him. Girls usually giggled when near him and kept giving him adorning looks, while the boys tried to act like they were best friends with him. The only exception was the Slytherin house. Most Slytherins just ignored Harry or tried to at least. They weren't stupid to actually come out and fight with Harry but they did make their feelings regarding him clear.

Harry, as usual, just ignored all of them. The people trying to be friends with him bothered him more, since most of these people were trying to be friends with him for only one reason, because of what had happened in Hogsmeade between him and Voldemort. It was frustrating to know that most if not all of these very same people had wanted him arrested and thrown in front of Dementors less than six months ago. It wasn't the most comforting of thoughts. In any case, for Harry he had enough friends.

Harry turned his attention back to the two bickering couple that was Ron and Hermione. They only needed the smallest of excuse to start arguing. Damien was tuning them out as well and leaned over the table to talk to Harry.

"Do you know what I heard in the common room this morning?" he asked.

"Probably a load of rubbish" Harry answered as he reached over to take a second helping of chicken casserole.

"I heard that there's going to be a change in the Duelling class. Apparently they are going to be bringing in professionals like Aurors to give a more thorough training." Damien told him.

"Well, it was about time they realised how pathetic their training was. At least they're doing something about it." Harry answered, not bothered in the least about the Duelling club.

Damien just grinned back at him and finished his lunch. He agreed with Harry. After seeing the kind of duelling Harry could do, the duelling class at Hogwarts really seemed to fall short.

Damien was about to ask Harry something when he saw a boy from his year running excitedly towards them.

A small mousey haired fourth year arrived to stand next to Harry. A slightly nervous giggle escaped him, catching Harry's attention. Harry turned around to look at him, frowning slightly at the look of excitement on the boys face.

"Hi Harry! How are you?" he asked.

Harry didn't reply and turned away from him. This was the third time this week this particular Gryffindor had tried to talk to him.

"Hi Dennis." Damien answered for Harry, hoping that Harry would be nice this time.

Dennis Creevey looked at Damien and quickly greeted him before turning his attention back to Harry. Damien had tried to tell Dennis to leave Harry alone but the boy wouldn't listen to him. He was so excited to see Harry. Damien even had to wrestle a camera away from him and his older brother, Colin, to save them both from being beaten by Harry. Both boys were muggle born and to them Harry was a hero. The threat of Voldemort was more terrifying for the muggle born witches and wizards, as they were the ones targeted the most by Voldemort. With Voldemort defeated and destroyed, the muggle born witches and wizards could live in calm and peace again. To the Creevey brothers and most of the students with muggle backgrounds, Harry was nothing short of a God.

Unfortunately, Harry wouldn't see their worshipping as anything short of annoying, so Damien was trying to keep them away from Harry, to save their own necks.

"I was wondering, Harry. Would you be attending the Duelling club this year?" Dennis asked.

"Why?" Harry asked, still not looking at the fourth year.

"Well, I remember you coming last year and that brilliant duel you had with Malfoy. I was just wondering of you were planning on coming again." Dennis asked, excited that Harry was talking to him.

Damien cringed as Dennis said Malfoy's name. That was the last thing Harry needed. Harry had not heard from Draco since the blond haired Slytherin had left. It was clear to see that Harry missed him, especially since he was at Hogwarts and Draco wasn't.

Damien threw Harry a pleading look as Harry turned around to face Dennis.

"I can't see that being any of your business." Harry answered coldly.

"Oh! I didn't mean to offend you! I'm sorry. I just meant…" Dennis started to say, looking upset that he had annoyed Harry.

"Dennis, I just remembered. Professor McGonagall wanted to see you before the afternoon classes started. You better go and see her." Damien said quickly.

Dennis looked crestfallen as he turned away from the Gryffindor table and walked out of the Great Hall. Hermione started on Harry instantly.

"You didn't have to be so cold with him. He only asked you a question."

"I repeat. I can't see how that is any of his business." Harry said without looking at Hermione. Harry didn't seem angry, just a little annoyed.

"He's only trying to be friendly. You shouldn't push him away like that." Hermione continued.

Ron gave her a warning look but she just brushed him away.

"You were like that with us as well. It took you ages to accept us as friends. You should place your trust in others, Harry." Hermione said.

"Who said I was friends with you?" Harry asked, finally lifting his head and looking at Hermione, a smirk firmly on his face.

"Call it an intelligent assumption." Hermione responded, not liking the smirk on Harry's face.

"Are you sure the word intelligent is the right word?" Harry teased as Hermione began to go red in the face with annoyance.

"You're hopeless to talk sense to, you know that?" she huffed.

"Then why do you even bother?" Harry asked, laughing at Hermione's expression.

At that moment, Ginny joined them at the table and the topic of discussion changed. The rest of the day went by and Hermione didn't bring up Harry's attitude problem.

At the end of the day, Harry had just walked into the boy's dormitory when he spotted Neville. He was taking something out from his trunk. Harry and Neville had been in the same dormitory for the last four days now but still hadn't spoken to one another. Neville rarely made any eye contact with Harry and seemed to ignore him most of the time. Harry couldn't care less. He didn't expect to hear anything from him anyway.

Ron watched warily as Neville took his clothes and left the room quickly.

"He's not said anything to you yet, has he?" Ron asked as he took his own pyjamas out from the trunk.

"No" Harry answered, taking off his robes.

"Jerk!" Ron huffed angrily.

At Harry's peculiar stare he went on.

"He needs to apologise to you for all the rubbish he said! He hasn't even thanked you for saving his brother and his parents!"

Harry shrugged as he got into his bed.

"I don't need his apologies or his gratitude. I didn't do anything for him." Harry answered.

"Still, its decent courtesy to at least acknowledge you were wrong about something. He said all that awful stuff to you, holding you responsible for Nigel and Ginny's capture. He should feel awful about that!" Ron said as he sat on his bed.

"Your famous Weasley temper is flaring up again." Harry said as he stared at the red haired boy.

"I just don't like the way he's treating you. It's just downright rude." Ron said as he climbed into his bed.

Harry smiled to himself at hearing Ron getting so worked up on his behalf.

"Ron, seriously, I don't care what Neville does. It doesn't bother me. Don't get worked up about it." Harry reassured him.

Ron and Harry talked about other things before the room gradually fell silent. Once Harry was sure Ron was asleep, he pulled out his wand from behind his pillow. He cast a quick 'Silencio' around his own bed before settling down. His nightmares were getting worse. With the exception of his first night at Hogwarts, he suffered every night with the same nightmares of Voldemort.

Harry turned to his side and was awake to hear Seamus, Dean and Neville come back into the room. He was still awake when the room filled with the sounds of the other four boys soundly asleep. Harry knew that his mind wasn't switching off for fear of what he would see. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't relax enough to fall asleep. Harry lay awake in his bed until the early hours of the morning, when his exhausted mind finally drifted off to sleep.

He woke up only two hours later with a start, body drenched in cold sweat, his breathing erratic and his whole body trembling. He couldn't help but shake in terror as the image of Voldemort's accusing stare burned into him. Harry lay in his bed, trying to calm his heart to its normal pace. He couldn't even have a few hours of sleep. Harry lay awake until the morning and got up with the rest of his dorm mates to start another day without hardly any sleep.

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I know this chappie was short but I will make up for it in the next one. Promise. Please review! Cheers


	5. Unexpected News

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Hi. Thanks for all your wonderful reviews. Hope you enjoy the next chappie.

(Oops, my bad. I got a little confused with the OWL year. Damien is only in his fourth year, so no OWLS for him. I've changed that bit. Sorry guys.)

**Chapter Five**

The first month at Hogwarts went by very quickly. Harry found, to his amusement, that the classes he attended still didn't challenge him at all. He could easily sit in class, pay no attention to what was being said and still finish any homework piece with relative ease. He knew that it was because he had learnt most of the spells and charm work years ago, so he could just sit back and enjoy annoying the likes of Hermione, who found it immensely infuriating that Harry spent so little time studying and still managed to get 'Outstanding' in nearly all his classes.

"You could at least pretend to listen!" she huffed at him as they entered the common room after the last class of the day.

"I could, but that's no fun." Harry responded cheekily.

Hermione didn't say anything but left to drop off her bag in the girl's dormitory. Ron and Harry waited for her to return before heading to the Great Hall for Dinner.

As soon as Harry sat down at the Gryffindor table he saw the usual group of Gryffindors wave at him enthusiastically, wearing very big smiles. As usual Harry ignored them and started filling his plate with food. No matter how rude Harry was to them, most students still tried to be friends with him. Harry looked up at the staff table and was surprised to see that both his parents were missing. He figured that they were probably still tidying up after their last class. Harry loved Defence Against the Dark Arts classes. Not only because it was his dad teaching the class, but because the subject was one that captured Harry's interest the most. All his life he was taught the Use of Dark Arts in combat, so for him to learn the flip side was very interesting. James was doing well as the Defence Professor. He was already well known at Hogwarts as he was one of the infamous Marauders, but now he was becoming popular with the students because of his teaching abilities.

Harry's attention focused on his brother sitting across from him. Damien was already finishing his meal and was rushing through his dessert.

"Hungry, Damien?" Harry asked with a grin as he saw his brother eating very gracelessly.

"Homework…too much…have to finish" Damien told him in between gulps of his apple pie and custard.

He quickly finished his meal and left to head to the library.

"It's his fourth year. He's probably trying to catch up with all his work." Hermione said, giving Damien's retreating form a look filled with pride.

Harry shared a withering look with Ron. Hermione really did have an unhealthy obsession with school work. Just as Harry and the rest were getting to leave, Harry caught a glimpse of his dad at the door. He waved at Harry to catch his attention and then waved him over. Harry, Ron and Hermione headed over to him. James quickly greeted them and then turned to speak with Harry.

"You probably don't know this, but this coming Sunday is Damien's birthday. Your mum and I are going to be heading to Hogsmeade late on Friday to get a few things for him. Do you want to come along as well?" James asked.

Harry quickly agreed as he hadn't had the chance to get his brother anything. He arranged to meet with his parents after dinner on Friday. The arrangement was that they were all going to celebrate Damien's fourteenth birthday by meeting at the Astronomy tower late on Sunday. It was Damien's favourite place at Hogwarts.

As it was only Tuesday, Harry had plenty of time to think about what he wanted to get Damien for his birthday. He had never bought a present for anybody. Harry knew whatever he got him it would have to be exceptional.

xxx

The next morning Harry and Ron came downstairs to join Hermione and Ginny for breakfast. Harry had spent another night with hardly much sleep. The most he could manage was a few hours every night. He would always get woken up by some dream involving Voldemort. He couldn't even remember what his dreams were about anymore. He rubbed at his tired eyes as he sat at the Gryffindor table.

"Rough night?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, you could say that." Harry responded.

He silently decided to do something about his sleeping pattern. It had been over a month now and he was starting to show signs of tiredness. It wouldn't be long before someone realised what was going on. He decided to get some Dreamless Sleeping potion from Poppy. He could trust her not to say anything to anyone about the Dreamless Sleeping potion. With that thought in mind, Harry started his breakfast.

It was only moments later that the sound of beating wings filled the hall. Harry glanced up as the owls carrying mail swooped into the hall. As usual, a copy of the Daily Prophet landed in front of Hermione.

"I don't know why you continue to order that rubbish. It's never got anything worth reading in there." Ginny said as she gave Hermione a disappointed look.

"You never know when they decide to write something worthwhile." Hermione replied as she dropped a Knut into the leather pouch attached to the owl's leg. She unfurled the copy of the newspaper and disappeared behind it.

Ginny looked over at Harry before continuing to eat her toast. She had stopped reading the Daily Prophet after reading all the stories about Harry. Many wizards claimed to have always had faith in him, even when he was with Voldemort while others blatantly lied about knowing that Harry was really a good hearted wizard and would defeat Voldemort one day. It was sickening the way no one admitted to judging Harry and then trying to get him locked up in Azkaban. The Ministry had even seemed to have forgotten the Five Thousand Galleons reward they had placed on Harry's head. They were now acting like Harry was their best friend. Unfortunately for them, Harry wasn't playing along. His abrupt departure from the Minister's party and refusal to attend any other function held by the Ministry was quite embarrassing.

Hermione emerged from behind the newspaper wearing a very disgruntled look.

"Told you." Ginny whispered.

"No, it's not that. It's just so frustrating the way the authorities don't seem to be even trying to keep things stable. I was just reading that there was another breakout from Azkaban. That's the third one since Voldemort…you know, and the Ministry doesn't even seem to care. They don't think the escaped prisoners 'pose any immediate threat' do they have to wait until they pose a threat? Surely they should be trying to capture them again!" Hermione finished wearing a slightly angry look.

"Mione, you getting all worked up about it isn't going to do any good. Just relax and finish your porridge." Ron offered.

"Don't patronise me, Ronald!" Hermione snapped back.

"Ron's right, Hermione." Harry spoke up. Ron looked around, slightly surprised that Harry was siding with him.

"You getting all worked up isn't going to do any good. And in any case, there are more pressing issues that should be looked at. For example, the Dementors leaving the Ministry should be more worrisome than a bunch of Azkaban prisoners out in the open." Harry continued, looking quite relaxed.

"Yes, but, there was a reason these men were locked up. Shouldn't that be a cause of worry?" Hermione asked.

"The reason doesn't exist anymore. These men aren't anything to fear. Their support is gone." Harry said, a pained look crossed his features before he carefully disguised his face to look relaxed again.

Hermione didn't respond. She understood what Harry meant. Without Voldemort the Death Eaters were nothing. The real threat was Voldemort. If he was gone, then his Death Eaters would be defeated as well.

For extra reassurance, Harry took the paper from Hermione and scanned the names of the escaped wizards. _'Stanley Curt, Jason Cooper, Anthony Cassidy, Charles Wilson, Cole Bailey, David Todd, Kelvin Reed...'_

"I don't recognise any of them, which means they can't have been very good Death Eaters. They probably got caught because they were lousy wizards, so nothing to worry about." Harry said as he handed the paper back to Hermione.

"I think the Aurors should still try and capture them though. What if someone tried to…to take his place, as the next Dark Lord." Hermione asked a flicker of fear present in her eyes.

"Hermione!" Ron said in an appalled tone, looking at her incredulously.

"Well, it can happen! That's the problem. Everyone wants to bury their head into the ground and not deal with the threat that someone could take his place." Hermione snapped back.

"But you don't have to say it out loud." Ron whispered back. He cast a scared look around the hall as if expecting someone to overhear them and march straight out of the hall, preparing to be the next Dark Lord.

Ginny rolled her eyes at her brother's reaction before turning to Hermione.

"I'm sure the wizarding world won't let that happen again. There won't be another Voldemort. For starters, you need someone with exceptional power. You don't get many wizards with so much raw power." Ginny said in a confident sort of voice.

Harry kept silent. He didn't want to give his opinion. He didn't doubt that there were groups of Werewolves, Vampires, especially Daywalkers and other magical creatures, fighting to take Voldemort's place. But Ginny was right, only someone with exceptional power could cause that sort of turmoil in the wizarding world. He didn't want to admit to himself who that someone could be.

xxx

It was late on Friday night and Harry had already left with James and Lily to go to Hogsmeade. Ron and Hermione had to keep Damien company until Harry returned. They pretended that Harry was busy talking some things over with Professor Dumbledore. Damien had looked sceptical but hadn't argued back. Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Damien were sitting around the fire in the common room. Friday night was always the night that most students were relaxing in the common room. No one even looked at their homework until the next day. All except Hermione who was already half way through her charms work.

The common room was packed with most students chatting amongst themselves. Ginny and Damien looked up from the floor when two figures came to stand before them. Hermione peered up from her parchment as Parvati and Lavender stood before Damien.

"Hi, Damien. How are you?" without waiting for an answer, Lavender continued.

"I just wanted to ask you something. I was wondering if you knew whether or not Harry is seeing someone." Lavender asked as she brushed back her long hair.

Hermione looked at Ginny and fought to hide her smile as the red haired girl gave Lavender a cold look. Damien didn't get the chance to answer as Ginny jumped in.

"Yes, me. He's seeing me." she said as patiently as she could.

Lavender and Parvati looked at Ginny for a moment before bursting out into laughter.

"Yeah, okay Weasley. Whatever you say. Seriously, Damien, is Harry with anyone just now?" Lavender turned to speak to Damien, completely ignoring Ginny.

"Well, actually…" Damien started to say before Parvati interrupted him again.

"You see we're thinking of asking him out. We thought, since you're his brother and everything, you would know if he's with anyone." Parvati finished with a smug look.

"Both of you are going to ask him out!" Ron asked with a sarcastic look at the two girls. Parvati and Lavender just disregarded his question and continued to stare at Damien.

Damien turned to look at Ginny with a lost look. They two girls wouldn't even let him talk.

"Let us know when you can, okay. Bye." With that the two girls left, giggling at the thought of dating Harry.

Hermione put down her parchment and gave Ginny a sympathetic look.

"Gin, I'm so sorry. They wouldn't let me talk. I would have told them that you're his girlfriend" Damien said quickly.

"They wouldn't have believed you anyway" Ginny said, still eyeing the two girls angrily.

"Anyway, it's not your fault. It's Harry's" Ginny said finally looking away from Parvati and Lavender.

"How is it Harry's fault?" Ron asked, giving his sister a bewildered look.

"Would it kill him to put his arm around me, once in a while?" Ginny asked, now directing her angry glare at Ron.

"I'm not asking for much, you know, just a little public affection to show that I really am his girlfriend and not a lying, lovesick, idiot girl in love with him." Ginny finished.

"Harry _did_ say that you're his girlfriend, right?" Ron asked, now looking a little anxious.

"Ronald!" Hermione scolded while Ginny looked at him murderously.

"I'm only asking!" Ron defended himself.

Damien put a comforting arm around Ginny.

"You know what Harry's like. He's not comfortable with the entire public affection thing. He doesn't even let mum hug him in public." Damien offered, thinking that would make her happier.

"Damy, I don't think anyone wants their mum to hug them in public." Ginny replied back.

She looked away from the other three. She brushed her long braided hair away and looked back up at Hermione, with a very disheartened expression.

"I'm not the type of girl that needs to be constantly glued to her boyfriend's side. I don't need to show Harry off. I respect him to much to do that to him and I know how uncomfortable he gets with people staring at him. All I'm saying is that small things would be nice. Just holding hands would be enough." Ginny finished solemnly.

Hermione reached out and gave her friend a reassuring hug. She had spent enough time with her to know exactly how besotted Ginny was with Harry. Now that the two were going out, Ginny still wasn't getting what she really wanted out of the relationship.

"Have you talked to him about it?" Hermione asked.

Ginny shrugged at first before responding.

"It's not really a problem. I mean usually Harry's great with me. Like I said, I don't need to be by his side all the time. I'm happy with him just in the same room as me. It's just when other girls make passes at him and laugh at me when I try and tell them that Harry is actually with me. I know that they think I'm delusional. It's just times like this that I wish Harry would be a little more responsive to me. Just so that others believe he really is with me. It's not like I want him to stand on the rooftops and shout his undying love for me or anything like that." Ginny finished with a cynical smile.

"Don't worry; I don't think that will _ever _happen." Damien added, scarcely hiding his smirk at such a thought.

Ginny couldn't help but giggle at her own words and soon the four teens were chatting about other things, leaving behind the awkward confession that Ginny had made.

xxx

The room was scarcely lit, draping the majority of the room into darkness. The figure sitting on the chair had his head dropped as he was deep in thought. Harry came to stand near the door; he didn't enter the room even though he knew he would be allowed to without permission.

The figure sitting on the chair didn't look up but knew that Harry was there, quite relaxed, leaning on the doorframe.

"Don't!" a voice hissed out in the silent room.

Harry smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"I haven't even said anything yet." he responded.

Voldemort looked up at Harry and sat back to observe his son.

"If you've come to gloat then you can just leave. I'm not in the mood." He said.

Harry walked inside, taking long strides so that he was standing before his father in a few steps.

"You should take my advice more often, father. It would have saved you seventeen Death Eaters lives in the raid today." Harry said, still smirking.

Voldemort observed Harry quietly before standing up to face him. He placed a bony hand on Harry's shoulder.

"I didn't think it was appropriate to ask my thirteen year old son to plan a raid that should have gone smoothly." Voldemort responded.

"Well, maybe you just underestimated me." Harry said giving his father one of his most cheeky smiles.

Voldemort's face relaxed as he looked at Harry. He opened his mouth to respond but stopped abruptly. Harry watched as Voldemort's red eyes widened with pain. Harry moved away as the hand on his shoulder burned him. Harry gasped in pain and stumbled away from Voldemort.

Harry watched horrified as flames erupted from Voldemort's robes and began to engulf him.

Voldemort looked down at the flames erupting from his robes, no trace of pain or fear on his face. He looked directly at Harry before speaking.

"I really did underestimate you, _Harry._"

Harry woke up drenched in cold sweat. For the first few moments he couldn't hear anything other than the sound of his own heart beating frantically in his chest. Then slowly the room came into focus and he knew that he was in his dormitory. Harry felt bile rise in his throat as his dream came back to him. He shakily made his way out of his dorm and headed to the bathroom. He just made it in time to empty the contents of his stomach.

He sat back against the cold tiled wall and took in shaky breaths. He wasn't even aware of the tears that were running down his cheeks. He hastily swiped them away. He had never had such a nightmare. The thing that had broken him was that the first part of his dream was actually real. It was a real memory. It was all a real memory up until the point of the flames erupting from Voldemort's robes. Harry shut his eyes against the burning of tears, willing them to go away.

"Just leave me alone." Harry silently prayed. He could put up with everything else but for his own memories to be used against him like that was unbearable.

After an hour or so, Harry picked himself up from the floor and washed up. He wasn't going to go back to sleep now. He wasn't going to go back to sleep until he got some Dreamless Sleeping potion. He couldn't risk another nightmare like that.

xxx

Sunday came and with it came Damien's fourteenth birthday. The majority of the morning and afternoon was spent in James and Lily's living quarters. It was only the four members of the Potter family. James told Damien that Remus and Sirius were due to show up later for the party. The family spent most of the time eating their way through the stacks of treats, all of which were Damien's favourite.

Harry was enjoying the relaxed atmosphere. He could sit back and enjoy the company without having to worry about anything. James and Damien were busy trying to wrestle each other playfully for the last of the sweets.

Lily came and sat next to Harry. She looked at her eldest son carefully before taking his face in her hands, looking at him with concern. Harry was taken aback by her sudden contact.

"Are you okay, Harry? You look really worn out." Lily asked as she gently traced the dark circles under his eyes.

Harry forced himself to be as nonchalant as possible.

"Thanks mum. That's a real compliment!" he teased while getting out of his mum's grip.

But Lily wasn't going to give up that easy. She had noticed Harry's worn out look and was starting to get worried about him.

"I'm serious, Harry. You look like you've not slept in days. Are you okay? Are you coming down with something?" Lily asked as she started to check his temperature.

"Mum, seriously, I'm fine. Just a little run down, that's all." Harry said and quickly directed his gaze away from her.

If it wasn't for Damien's birthday, he might have told her what was wrong. But Harry didn't want to bring up such distressing issues on such a day. He figured that Damien deserved to have a hassle free day.

Lily still looked unhappy with Harry's answer but couldn't pursue her examination as James and Damien distracted her with their antics. Soon Damien, Harry and Lily were all involved in a mad scramble to get the remaining sweets away from James.

"When am I getting my gifts?" Damien asked as he collapsed on the small sofa in his mum's room.

"Subtle, Damy" Harry laughed.

"What? It's my birthday. I have a right to know where my presents are." Damien answered.

"Maybe you're not getting any presents this year." Lily responded.

Damien gave her a faked hurt puppy look.

"But mum, I'm fourteen today. You can't let me turn fourteen without any presents." He said, pouting a little.

"You'll get them at the party tonight." James said playfully ruffling Damien's hair.

The afternoon was spent in the company of Damien's friends. Harry was happy to just sit and watch Damien react with his friends. Sometimes Harry wished he could be as carefree as Damien was. He watched as Damien opened the presents his friends gave him and stacked the growing pile to his side.

Soon it was time for the party that was going to be held at the astronomy tower. Harry was surprised when he saw the large group of people there. Nearly all the staff was there. Damien reassured Harry that most would retire quite early.

"How do you know?" Harry asked.

"It happens every year, well every year that I have spent celebrating my birthday at Hogwarts, that is." Damien answered.

A thought crossed Harry's mind.

"Did you have a party last year as well?" he asked, watching Damien carefully.

Damien blushed a little and nodded his head reluctantly.

"Yeah, I was going to invite you but we had sort of had a fight when it happened. You had just thrown the game against Slytherin and I was too angry with you to invite you." Damien admitted.

Harry remembered that fight only too well. It had frustrated Harry to no end that Damien was not talking to him. Although at that time he wouldn't admit it.

"Mum and dad really forced me to invite you, but I was too stubborn." Damien added solemnly.

"It's okay." Harry said, watching the relief flood into Damien.

"I wouldn't have come to your stupid party anyway." Harry added with a grin.

Damien threw Harry a glare before punching him in retort.

Harry laughed at Damien's indignant expression before throwing an arm around his shoulder.

"Harry! Harry, oh, there you are." Lily came to stand before Harry, looking very flustered.

"Harry, I need you to run down to my quarters for me. Your father forgot to bring up the butterbeer I had picked up from Hogsmeade." Lily said, throwing James a disgruntled look.

"Make dad go and get it then." Harry replied.

"He's busy trying to get in contact with Sirius. He should have been here by now. He won't do anything until he's spoken to Sirius so it's pointless to even ask him." Lily responded.

"Oh, okay" Harry said and quickly made his way down the tower.

He picked up the butterbeer in Lily's room and was about to head back out of the door when something caught his eye. A small flicker of green had come out from the fireplace. Harry stood still, holding the stacks of butterbeer. 'Maybe its Sirius coming by floo.' Harry thought. He approached the fireplace and watched carefully. Another flicker of green flame leapt out and Harry watched as a small green fire started. Harry put down the butterbeer and knelt down onto all fours watching carefully.

Suddenly the flames leapt up and a full fire erupted. A face emerged in the flames. Harry watched in disbelief as a head sat in the flames, eyes fixed on Harry.

"Draco!" Harry said in a near whisper.

Draco Malfoy's head sat in the green flames, looking at Harry carefully.

"Draco, what…what are you doing? Is everything okay? Why are you fire calling here? Who are you looking for?" Harry asked.

He knew that it was only a coincidence that he saw Draco fire calling here. There was no way that Draco could have known that Harry was going to be here at this time.

"I was looking for you, of course." Draco said. Harry was slightly taken aback to hear Draco talk without the sneer in his voice.

"How did you know I was going to be here?" Harry asked, getting over the shock of seeing his best friend after nearly three months.

"I tried the Gryffindor common room. Black said to try here, in case you were with your parents." Draco responded.

"Black? When did you speak with Sirius? What's going on?" Harry asked feeling close to panic. There was something wrong, he could just feel it. The way Draco was looking at him, there was no arrogant stroke in him, his expression was…blank. He looked tired and distant. That for Draco meant that he was deeply upset.

"Draco, what's wrong?" Harry asked again, feeling the hair on the back of his neck prickle. What was Sirius doing talking to Draco? Wasn't he supposed to be here for Damien's party?

"Harry, I…I have to tell you something." Draco faltered. His expression turned to one of grief before looking back at his best friend.

"Draco, what the hell is going on?" Harry asked, feeling his heart thump loudly in his chest.

Draco looked directly into Harry's eyes, his expressionless mask back in its place.

"Bella died this morning."

xxx

Lily saw the look of confusion on James' face as he emerged from the classroom after using the floo.

"Any news of where Sirius is?" she asked.

James just shook his head.

"I called his office. Kingsley said that he left over an hour ago. I don't know where he could be." James said worry laced in his voice.

"I'm sure he's just running late. He'll be here, James, don't worry" Lily said trying to comfort him.

"He would never miss Damien's birthday. I don't understand where he could be." James continued.

xxx

Harry sat in stunned silence. The words Draco had spoken rang in his ears. Bella had died. Harry couldn't find any words to say anything. He managed one word in a hoarse voice.

"How?"

"We just found her dead in her bed this morning. Uncle Marcus said that sometimes, victims of the Kiss can pass on like this. We still don't know exactly when it happened." Draco answered.

"Black arrived a little over half an hour ago. Uncle Marcus had contacted him at the Ministry. The funeral is planned for tonight, if you want to come." Draco finished.

Harry looked up at hearing this. He couldn't clear his head to think straight. All he could feel was an unbearable urge to be with Bella.

"Where are you?" Harry asked his voice was a lot stronger now.

Draco gave him the location.

"You have to let Professor Dumbledore know. He has to open the fireplace in order for you to floo here." Draco told him.

But Harry was already opening the jar holding the floo powder. Harry's mind was strangely numb. He couldn't focus on anything other than the fact that Bella had gone. He knew that Bella had in essence died once the Kiss was administered and all that was left behind was an empty shell, but the thought that the body had now passed on as well and that he was going to be attending her funeral was making Harry's mind block out all other thoughts. He didn't even think to let someone know what had happened and where he was going. He was acting purely on instinct.

Draco hastily pulled himself out of the fireplace just in time as Harry threw in the floo powder and shouted out the address Draco had given him. Harry disappeared in a flash of green flames, breaking past the wards placed on the fireplace and landed next to Draco, thousands of miles away from Hogwarts.

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Please Read and Review. Thanks!


	6. Bella's Funeral

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thank you to all those who reviewed. Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

**Chapter Six**

James looked up as Hermione, Ron and Seamus came running towards him. He stood up quickly, hoping they had good news.

"There's no sign of him! We looked everywhere. The common room, the dorms, the potions labs even the kitchens. He's not there!" Ron told him, panic clear in his voice.

James felt his heart skip several beats. He had just returned from searching for Harry as well. The party had come to a standstill when Harry had failed to return with the butterbeers. Mostly everyone was involved in searching for him. Damien was still checking the Marauders map to Hogwarts, refusing to believe that Harry was not there.

"We have to let the authorities know." Professor Sprout said, wringing her hands in worry.

"He has to be somewhere here. He couldn't have left Hogwarts. The wards wouldn't have let him." Professor McGonagall replied sternly.

James didn't say anything. It was true. Harry had to be here somewhere. He couldn't leave Hogwarts grounds, the wards wouldn't allow him or anyone for that matter, to leave without Dumbledore knowing. The Headmaster had already confirmed that all the wards were still in place. None of them had been brought down.

James gritted his teeth in anger.

"He better have a bloody good reason for this or else, I swear, when I get my hands on him …" James trailed off, too angry to finish.

He was worried for Harry but he didn't believe anything bad had happened to him. James was forcing himself to believe that Harry was pulling a prank. He wouldn't put it past him to do something like this, not knowing how worried everyone was going to get. James was caught up with what had become of Damien's birthday party. The fourteen year old was searching for his brother, as were the rest of the guests. He seemed to have completely forgotten about his birthday and was rushing about the castle, worried beyond belief for the safety of his brother. The entire party atmosphere had disappeared.

James set off to look for Harry again, this time heading for the forest, praying that he could control his temper when he found him.

xxx

Sirius watched with a blank expression as Bella's body was lowered into the grave. He had kept a plain expression the whole way through the ceremony. It felt difficult to grieve for the loss of Bella at this point since Sirius had mourned for her when she was given the Dementor's Kiss. That was essentially when they had truly lost Bella. What was left was just an empty shell belonging to her. Sirius bit back his emotions as he reminded himself that he had lost her long ago, when she had first joined Voldemort.

Sirius peered into the darkness and made out the still form of Harry. He was standing motionless next to Draco. Sirius looked at him worriedly. Harry had not spoken a single word since he arrived. He had not even exchanged a single word with Draco. Sirius didn't want to think about how he was feeling. Harry had not fully recovered from losing Voldemort and now he had to deal with the loss of Bella. Sirius didn't understand the guilt Harry was going through regarding Voldemort but he did understand that Harry was suffering. He had already spoken numerous times with James, trying to convince him that his son needed help. But James was still as stubborn as always, claiming that Harry was fine. Sirius felt a wave of unease wash through him as he thought about James and Damien. He had never missed his birthday before. He figured that he would understand though, everything had happened so quickly. He had received the call from Marcus, telling him about the Bella's funeral. He told Sirius that since he was the one who had handed Bella over to Narcissa instead of taking her to Azkaban, he felt he should be present at Bella's funeral. Sirius had rushed to meet them and hadn't even thought to inform James. He figured that Harry would have told them before coming so at least James and Damien knew what had happened.

The funeral ceremony was nearly over. It had to be done quickly and in the dark since most of the authorities was still on the lookout for Death Eaters. It wouldn't matter to them that they were taking away a dead body. It would still count as a capture to them. Marcus had explained solemnly that he couldn't delay the funeral since the risk of getting caught was too great. He had just about managed to keep Bella's whereabouts secret. If it was to be found out that he had been hiding Bella all this time he would be punished severely. Sirius knew that Marcus could potentially end up in Azkaban for hiding a known Death Eater, so he didn't object to the funeral taking place after dark. There was no one else present at the funeral except for himself, Marcus, Narcissa, Draco and Harry. Marcus was performing the funeral ceremony. He finished reading the necessary script and motioned towards them all to gather around the grave. Sirius walked a few steps towards the edge of the grave, trying not to think about who was being buried there. Marcus gestured for all of them to raise their wands. Sirius did so, mentally cursing to himself. He hated this part, the part where they all had to throw in a handful of soil in order for the burial to take place.

At Marcus' nod, Sirius brought down in wand as did the rest. Five jets of white light flashed through the darkness and five handfuls of soil fell gracefully into the grave. In a matter of seconds, the remaining soil poured itself into the grave and the body of Bellatrix Lestrange was buried and laid to rest.

xxx

It was well into the night before Harry and Sirius returned to the gates of Hogwarts. Sirius walked along quietly, trying to think about something appropriate to say. Harry had a vacant look on his face and seemed to be walking in a trance like state. Draco and Narcissa had tried to get Harry to stay over with them but Harry had point blank refused. Sirius cringed mentally as he recalled the last words Narcissa had exchanged with Harry before they left. She had stiffly embraced Harry, as neither Narcissa nor Harry was accustomed to such shows of affection.

"I wanted to thank you Harry, for everything. At least I can live with the peace of knowing that the one to have destroyed my sister is no longer here, thanks to you."

Harry was speechless and only pulled himself away from her before turning to the floo, a look of utter despair on his face. Sirius thought that he understood why. Harry was already feeling guilty about killing Voldemort; he didn't need someone outright thanking him like that. Sirius was sure that only reason Harry didn't lash out at Narcissa was because he was too caught up in his own emotions. Also, she was Draco's mother, Harry would have controlled himself because of that reason alone.

Sirius walked up towards the main doors, feeling drained with the day's events. He made another attempt to talk to Harry though, since he could see that Harry really needed to deal with what had happened.

"Was James okay with you leaving Damien's party?" Sirius asked. He only wanted to say something so that Harry would respond.

Harry turned his startled eyes to Sirius, seeming to come out of deep thoughts.

"Huh?" was the only response Sirius got.

"Damien's party? You did tell James what had happened, didn't you?" Sirius asked, a dreadful feeling building in the pit of his stomach. Did Harry make the same mistake he had and not told anyone where he was going?

Harry seemed to snap put of his thoughts fully and looked around himself as if noticing for the first time that he was standing outside Hogwarts.

"I never got a chance." Harry responded.

Sirius closed his eyes and rubbed at his forehead, trying to ward off the headache that was building there. This was not going to be pretty. James had a foul temper and Sirius knew that Harry's sudden disappearance was likely to get a rise out of him. He picked up the pace and headed straight to James' living quarters. It was past eleven o'clock and the castle was deathly quiet.

"We better go and explain to James what had happened." Sirius said to Harry.

Harry looked in the direction of the staircase longingly. He would rather forget everything that had happened today and just go to his room, but Harry knew that he should go and tell his parents that he was fine.

Sirius and Harry hurried along, trying not to make any noise. As soon as Sirius neared James' room he could hear his best friend's voice, obviously talking to Lily. Sirius could hear the worry and anger in his voice clearly.

"Just don't say anything to further upset him. He doesn't know what's happened. I'll explain what happened. Okay." Sirius asked Harry.

Harry only nodded his head. He didn't look too good. Harry's complexion had paled suddenly and his eyes seemed to have darkened in colour. He was completely drained. Sirius took a deep breath before entering the room.

"…we have no choice! We have to listen to the Aurors, James. Anything could have happened to him!" Lily was yelling at a very frustrated looking James.

Sirius saw the anxious looking Order members spaced around the room. Dumbledore was also there along with many members of staff. Moody and Tonks were standing on either side of Lily, apparently joining in the heated debate with James. As Sirius and Harry walked into the room, everyone turned their attention to them.

James turned to look at the two tired looking figures standing near the doors. The relief at seeing his son, safe and sound, flooded into him. He stood speechless as the two wizards walked further into the room. The anger he had felt at Harry's disappearance had gradually changed to worry as the night had passed on. He was reassuring himself that his son could look after himself. It was only this thought that had held James together. He forcefully didn't let his mind wander to what Harry had looked like when they had gone to rescue him from Riddle Manor. It was because of this that James felt the anger and rage explode within him as he saw Harry standing there, next to Sirius, who had also been missing the entire night as well, not looking remotely sorry that they had been missing. They both had very blank looks on their faces.

Lily made an odd choking noise as she rushed towards Harry. She quickly enveloped him into a strong hug and began thanking Merlin that he was okay. Sirius opened his mouth to say something but seemed to change his mind.

"Sirius! Harry! Where have you both been? We were so worried. Are you okay?" Lily started asking both Harry and Sirius.

Sirius didn't want to say where they had been tonight in front of the other Aurors. They wouldn't understand why Sirius and Harry felt the need to protect Bella. They would probably turn against them for hiding her in the first place.

Sirius remained quiet and sent a meaningful look towards Dumbledore. The Headmaster understood Sirius's distressed look and started to usher everyone out of the room.

"Well, it seems there is nothing to worry about. Both Sirius and Harry have returned to us safe and well. The hour is very late and I think we should all retire for the night. Good night." Dumbledore opened the door and stood beside it as the Aurors walked out, wearing very irritable looks. They had wasted their time for apparently nothing.

Dumbledore left once the room was only occupied with James, Lily, Harry, Sirius and Remus. As soon as the door closed, Lily started her questioning again.

"What happened? Where were you? Harry, why did you leave like that? Where did you go?"

Harry didn't respond to her. He was still standing near the door and had his eyes focused away from everyone else. He was caught up in a whirlwind of emotions right now. The sadness of losing Bella, the guilt of being responsible for her to get the Kiss, the confusion of feeling so lost without her and the sudden loneliness that daunted on him. He didn't understand that. He had lost Bella; he had left her when he found out the truth about his childhood. Why did he feel so lost and lonely without her now?

"Lily, I'm sorry. I should have let you know what happened, but everything happened so fast. I'm really very sorry." Sirius started to apologise and was about to explain what had happened when James stopped him.

"Don't say anything, Sirius. We'll get to you later. First I want to speak to Harry."

Harry looked up at his dad. He could see the rage clearly in his eyes. He knew that James was very angry with him, but he couldn't bring himself to care right now.

"I want to know, what the hell you were thinking, disappearing like that!" James asked, his words shaking with anger.

"James…" Sirius started again but was cut off as James stopped him again.

"I'm talking to Harry, Sirius! He can speak for himself."

Sirius tried to cut in and explain but James was not having any of it.

"Did you even think about what the rest of us were going through? We spent the entire night looking for you! And Damien, the poor boy spent the entire night running through the castle looking for you!" James was now red in the face and his voice was getting louder.

"So tell me, Harry, enlighten us with what was so damn important that it couldn't wait until morning! Or why you didn't think it was important to come and inform us that you were leaving!" James finished, looking angrier than ever. James was in such a temper that he didn't even think to ask how Harry had managed to leave in the first place, as the wards on Hogwarts had not been compromised.

Harry still didn't answer, he listened to everything James said and realised with an awful feeling that his parents wouldn't care what had happened to Bella. Like his dad had said, 'what was so damn important that it couldn't wait until the morning.' Harry knew that his dad wasn't going to understand why Harry felt it was important to see Bella for the last time. They were probably going to argue that she was already dead anyway, so why bother going to see her at all. Bella was long gone; it was really only her body that had died. They hated her and would probably be relieved that she was gone. At this Harry's already exhausted mind came to the conclusion that his parents weren't going to understand what had happened, so he wasn't going to try and make them understand. It wasn't worth it.

He turned away from his dad and headed for the door. He really needed to be alone. He couldn't trust himself to speak right now. Before he could leave he felt a hand close over his arm. He looked back to see his dad holding him firmly by the arm, hazel eyes swimming with anger.

"I'm asking you something, Harry. Don't you dare walk away from me without explaining yourself!"

Deep down James knew he was being unfair on Harry. He was shouting at him without even finding out where he had gone. But as James was in the midst of a raging temper, his rational thinking was put on hold for the moment. All he wanted to do was make Harry understand how angry he was.

Harry only brushed away James' hand calmly and looked tiredly at him. If he thought that James would understand how he felt then he would have made the effort to tell him, but deep down he knew that his dad would never understand. He gave his mum a last look before heading out of the door.

James almost leapt out after him but thankfully was stopped by Remus and Lily.

"James, don't. He's really upset about something. Just leave him alone for now." Remus said, trying to stop James from doing any more harm than he had already done.

James struggled out of Remus' grip and turned towards Sirius. It didn't help James' anger that Sirius was glaring at him.

"And what about you! Harry's seventeen and apparently can't think for himself, but what about you? Didn't you think about telling me where you were? You were obviously with Harry, since you both came back together. You could have told me that Harry was with you! You above everyone should know what we must have been going through when Harry disappeared! You didn't even spare a single thought towards Damy. What he must have felt that his own Godfather and brother were missing. I had to practically yell at him to go to bed and give up the search for him." James was starting to break down now. The anger had kept him going, but now he was staring to lose what was left of his composure.

Sirius gave James a calculating look before coming to a decision. He headed towards the door before turning around to look at him.

"There's no point in talking to you when you're like this. I'll talk to you in the morning when your senses return to you." Sirius told him while Lily and Remus kept a firm grip on James.

"But I think you should know that Harry and I weren't out gallivanting as you have so discreetly suggested." Sirius continued before opening the door.

"Both of us were attending Bella's funeral."

With that said, Sirius walked out of the room not sparing a single glance towards the shocked occupants left in the room.

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I know it's short but I had to break it up here otherwise it would have been a really long chapter and it would have taken me longer to update. The next chappie should be out soon, Promise!! Please read and Review!


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**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed. Sorry about the delay. Hope you enjoy the next chappie.

**Chapter Seven**

Damien refused to go to sleep. He had been yelled at by his dad when he had refused to go to bed and give up the search for Harry, so the annoyed teenager had reluctantly returned to Gryffindor tower, but he wasn't going to give up his search. At present, everyone had gone to bed, except for Damien, Ginny, Ron and Hermione. The four Gryffindors were huddled around the map of Hogwarts, watching it closely for any sign of Harry's name.

Damien had never been so angry with Harry. Not because Harry had disappeared on his birthday that thought hadn't even crossed the fourteen year olds mind. What he was angry about was the fact that Harry had left Hogwarts without telling him. He was fairly certain that Harry had left Hogwarts by his own consent. The wards still being in place was witness to that. Damien had not forgotten the day Harry had walked out of Godric's Hollow, to go to Riddle Manor in order to save Ginny and Nigel. Damien never wanted to feel like he had on that day. The thought that Harry might leave and never come back again was too horrifying to even consider.

The silence in the common room was unnerving. He had never thought it was possible for the place to be so quiet. The four of them were concentrating hard on the map. Suddenly Hermione let out a 'oh!' and Damien quickly snapped his head in the direction Hermione had been looking at. Two dots had appeared, Sirius Black and Harry Potter. Damien nearly shot out of his chair to go running downstairs to meet them but was stopped by Ron.

As the four watched, the two dots started to make their way towards James and Lily's living quarters. Damien could see that there was a small group of people in the quarter already. Soon they began to clear away so it was only Harry, Sirius, his parents and Remus left there. Damien wanted to leave the common room and join them as well. He wanted to go downstairs and make sure that his brother and Godfather were okay. It seemed more important than anything else right now. He figured he would yell at them later for ruining tonight's celebrations.

As Damien thought this over he saw the dot labelling Harry, move away from the living quarters and move in the opposite direction. He watched as Harry moved towards the staircase. Damien readied himself; he knew Harry was making his way to the common room. However, Harry didn't head in the direction of Gryffindor tower, instead he headed towards the seventh floor and as the four Gryffindors confusedly watched, Harry disappeared again.

"What the…" Ron exclaimed as he pulled away from the map.

"Where, where did he go?" Hermione asked her brows knitted in confusion.

"You can't apparate from Hogwarts, the wards won't let you! What's going on?" She continued in a panicked voice.

Ginny was speechless and just watched the spot on the map where Harry had been, moments before.

Hermione stared at the spot Harry had seemingly disappeared from and suddenly let out a sigh of relief.

"I know what happened! He hasn't left Hogwarts. Harry's gone into the room of Requirement. The room probably doesn't show up on the map as it's supposed to be a secret!" she revealed, glad that she had figured that out.

Damien decided he had enough. He got up abruptly and headed towards the door. He pulled put his invisibility cloak from his robes and threw it over himself as he climbed out of the common room. He ignored his friends' yells as he raced towards the staircase. He was going to find out what was going on with Harry once for all.

Before he could head towards the seventh floor though, Damien caught sight of a tall figure heading towards the main doors. Damien stopped in his tracks as he recognised the figure. It was his uncle Sirius.

Damien quickly took to the staircase, heading towards him. Before Damien could pull off his cloak and confront Sirius a shout was heard behind him. Damien spun around, still hidden under his invisibility cloak, and saw his mum, dad and Remus come running towards Sirius.

It was then that Damien noticed the angry look on his Godfather's face. He moved to the side, so that he wouldn't be accidentally knocked against as his mum, dad and uncle Remus caught up with Sirius.

"Sirius, wait! You can't just leave like that! You have to explain what happened!" Lily told him in a strained voice.

Damien could tell his mum wanted to shout at him but was restraining her voice since she didn't want to wake up the entire castle.

Sirius turned to look at her.

"I did just explain what happened. Harry and I were attending Bella's funeral. That was why both of us were missing." Sirius explained in a controlled voice.

Damien felt his heart skip a beat. So that's why Harry had left so abruptly. He must have been informed of Bella's death. Damien's heart ached for Harry. He knew just how close Harry was to Bella. It went without saying that she was like a mother to him.

"But, how? I mean she…she had been given the Kiss. How did she…" Lily found she couldn't finish her words. The look of grief in Sirius' eyes cut her off mid sentence.

"Sometimes it's normal for victims of the Kiss to die suddenly. She died last night, in her sleep." Sirius answered.

Damien sucked in a breath. That was horrible. He didn't want to imagine what her family must have felt like, discovering her dead in her bed in the morning.

"Sirius, I'm so sorry. I…I don't know what to say, I…I acted like a jerk. I'm so sorry." James came forward and tried to look at his friend in the eye but found he couldn't.

"It's not me you should be apologising to. You didn't jump down my throat as soon as I walked through the door. After a night like tonight, what Harry really needed was someone to be there for him, not someone, accusing him of being thoughtless and selfish." Sirius said rather angrily.

Damien looked over at his red faced and extremely ashamed looking father. James was looking horrified with himself. Damien knew just what his dad was like when he got angry. He always said things he didn't mean and then would make apologies afterwards. Somehow, Damien didn't think Harry would be in the mood to hear him apologise any time soon.

Damien crept away from the group of adults and made his way stealthily to the seventh floor. He definitely had to see Harry now. Damien was glad that he found out where Harry had been before seeing him. He didn't want to make the same mistake his dad had made.

Damien came to the seventh floor and made his way over to the point where the Room of Requirement was hidden. Damien saw the door already there and approached it quietly. He pulled off the cloak and tucked it back inside his robes. He knew he would be in a lot of trouble if he was caught. No one was allowed to be in the corridors at this time in the night. But Damien found he didn't really care anymore about the rules. Some rules had to be broken sometimes.

Damien grabbed a hold of the door and gently pulled it open. He stepped into the room and spotted Harry straight away. The room was completely bare. There was no furniture inside, not even a single chair. Hermione had told him once that the Room of Requirement would change and adapt itself to suit the user's needs. It seemed that for Harry all he wanted was some space to be alone. Harry was standing across the room. There was a single window in the room, which Damien assumed, was magically there and showed the landscape of Hogwarts. Harry was standing facing the window, he didn't move even though he had heard Damien come inside.

Damien closed the door softly behind him. Before he could say anything, Harry spoke, without turning around.

"If you've come to yell at me, Damien now's not a good time. You can yell at me in the morning."

Damien felt his heart break at Harry's words.

"I've not come to yell at you." Damien reassured him.

Harry turned around to face his younger brother. His expression was blank and his emerald eyes seemed strangely vacant. Damien remembered when he had spoken to Harry on his phone, the day Bella was given the Kiss. It had shaken Damien up to hear the raw pain and hurt in Harry's voice. He had expected Harry to be feeling the same way now, but Harry seemed to be still in shock.

Damien walked over to his brother's side and stood next to him.

"I heard about what happened to Bella. I'm really sorry, Harry."

Harry's only response was to nod his head once before looking away again. Damien felt lost; he didn't know what else he should say. Asking him if he was okay sounded stupid and pointless, as it was obvious that Harry wasn't okay.

"Harry, do you want to go back to Gryffindor tower? It's late and you should rest." Damien said awkwardly. He was hoping that after Harry rested he would be easier to talk to.

Harry looked over at the door, eyes lingering on the door before meeting Damien's eye. He shook his head.

"I just need to be alone. I don't want to go anywhere just now." Harry answered.

Damien nodded his head in understanding. If that was the way Harry was going to deal with it then Damien was fine with that.

"Okay, I'll go now. If you need me though, just come to my dorm, okay." Damien said, feeling helpless that he couldn't do anything more for Harry.

He walked towards the door and left quietly, looking back to see that Harry was still looking out of the window.

xxx

James didn't sleep at all that night. After Sirius had left, James had made his way up to Gryffindor tower, only to be told by Damien that Harry was not in the mood to talk to anyone. He had left the tower, feeling awful. He had yelled at Harry when he was already feeling so vulnerable. He should have been there for him, instead of making him feel worse.

James tossed and turned in bed the entire night, thinking about all the things he could do to make it up to Harry.

When morning came, James was first to get up. He got dressed and was about to head towards Gryffindor tower when Lily stopped him.

"At least let Harry wake up properly! It's too early. You can speak to him after breakfast." She sternly told him.

So James held back and headed to the Great Hall with Lily. He found it hard to eat anything while guilt was surging through him, making it difficult to swallow anything. He was watching the doors carefully, waiting to see Harry come through them with Ron and Damien. It wasn't until well into breakfast that Ron and Damien walked into the hall, followed by Hermione and Ginny. James strained his neck to see over them, but was disappointed to see that Harry was not with them. The four Gryffindors sat down at their table and started with breakfast. Damien looked over at James and gave him an odd look before looking away again.

James got up from the table and made his way towards Damien.

"Hey Damien. Where's Harry?" he asked quickly.

"He's still in his room. He said he wasn't hungry and didn't want any breakfast." Damien answered.

James looked worriedly at the front doors. He wasn't sure how to deal with this. Should he go up to see Harry or should he wait until Harry was ready to speak to him. James decided that he was going to go and see Harry. He knew he wouldn't be able to rest until he apologised to Harry for last night. James was also going to tell Harry to take today off. He had already spoken to Dumbledore early this morning and told him what had happened with Bella. Dumbledore had given Harry permission to take the day off, so that he could recover. It wasn't as if Harry would be paying much attention to classes anyway.

He walked away from the Gryffindor table and headed towards Gryffindor tower. He walked into Harry's dorm room and found Harry sitting on his bed. He had just finished pulling on his school robes.

Harry looked up to see his dad standing at his door. James tried his best to look at ease but the harsh words he had spoken last night came screaming back at him, making him cringe.

"Morning, Harry." James said, in an effort to seem normal.

Harry got up from his bed as he answered with a blank look on his face.

"Morning, Dad."

James felt even worse as Harry's emotionless tone rang in the room.

He shifted his weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other before speaking.

"Harry, look. About last night, I really messed up. I shouldn't have shouted at you like that. I was just really worried and I took out all my frustration on you. I'm really very sorry." he said, managing to keep his eyes locked with Harry's.

Harry picked up his bag containing his books and swung it around his shoulder.

"Okay." He answered.

James knew that Harry was far from okay. He was angry and upset with James and he wasn't going to accept his apology that easily.

"Harry, I acted like a total jerk! I don't know why I said all that stuff to you. I truly am sorry." James tried again.

Harry gave James a nod as he said, "okay" again in his emotionless voice.

James was starting to get worked up again. Why was Harry being so unresponsive to him? James would have preferred it if Harry had yelled and shouted at him, or told him how lousy a father he was. Even that would be better than this indifferent and distant reaction he was getting.

"Sirius told me what happened. I'm really sorry to hear about…"

"Don't" James was cut off by Harry.

James looked at him in surprise.

"What?" He asked in confusion.

"Don't say you're sorry about her death when you're not." Harry stated simply.

James saw the hurt and pain cloud in his emerald eyes. That was the first reaction he had seen in Harry since last night.

James knew that Harry was right. James didn't feel any compassion for Bellatrix Lestrange. To James, Bella was a cruel and evil witch who had killed thousands of innocent people. She was just as guilty as Voldemort for taking Harry away and abusing him when he was only a child. James blamed her as much as he blamed Voldemort. So he wasn't really sorry about what had happened to her. It was justice that she suffered as she had made him and Lily suffer.

"I'm not going to lie, I'm not sorry about what happened to her." James said in a controlled voice.

"But I am sorry about how it affects you. Her death affects two of the people I love, you and Sirius. I'm really sorry that both of you are upset." James said, taking a step near him.

Harry looked up at James. He held his dad's gaze for a moment or two before dropping it.

"Yeah, okay, I better go, I'll be late for class." He said as he moved towards the door.

"You don't have to attend classes today. Dumbledore has given you the day off." James told him. He wanted to talk to Harry about Bella's death. He could see how much her death had affected him.

"Thanks for your concern, but I would rather go to classes today. I don't want to sit around and do nothing." Harry answered. James noticed how cold Harry's tone had become.

"Harry, I think we should talk. You have to deal with what happened. You have to understand…" again James was abruptly cut off by Harry.

"Dad, I get it! I understand what happened. She died! People die all the time, right! I don't have to think about it. I don't want to think about it! I would rather get on with today like it was any other day. I don't want to talk about this, ever." Harry shouted, hurt and anger showing clearly on his face. His breathing had quickened as if he had been running.

James moved closer to comfort him but Harry moved away.

"Harry, I'm only trying to help." James tried.

Harry looked up at his dad; he forced his voice to be calm before he spoke.

"You want to help? Then promise me that you won't bring up Bella's death. I don't ever want to talk about that. Okay?" Harry said in a strained voice.

James knew that Harry needed to talk about Bella and about her death, but found that he couldn't really argue with Harry at this point. Harry was too caught up in his emotions to listen to anyone right now. So James reluctantly agreed never to talk about Bella.

James moved closer to Harry and gave his distressed son a hug to try and calm him down. Harry waited a moment or two before gently pushing James away.

"I'm okay, dad. Just stop with all this attention. You know I don't like it." Harry said quietly.

"Am I forgiven for yesterday?" James asked as he held onto Harry by his shoulders.

"You didn't know what had happened, its fine. Just don't jump down my throat next time." Harry answered as he straightened his robes.

"Next time?" James asked with a smirk.

"You listen here, young man. There should not be a next time. I don't want to ever not know where you are. Understood?" James said, keeping his tone light so that Harry knew he was not really scolding him.

Harry only rolled his eyes in response.

"Come to think of it, how did you leave last night? Dumbledore said that all the wards were still in place. How did you leave Hogwarts?"

James asked as that important detail came to mind.

Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know. I just wanted to leave so I used the floo in your room." Harry answered; not sounding the least bit concerned that he had broken through the wards of Hogwarts.

James didn't pres the issue anymore. He knew he would have to report that to Dumbledore. Maybe there was something wrong with that fireplace or maybe Harry's powers had not been fully understood yet.

xxx

Harry's day went by very slowly. By the end of the day's classes, Harry wished he had taken the day off. Nothing in class held his attention and he found his thoughts wavering back to Bella. He forcefully shook those thoughts away. He knew what would happen to him if he let himself think like that.

Damien and his friends managed to keep Bella and last night, out of the conversation. Ginny had wordlessly slipped her hand into Harry's at lunch and had tried to offer as much comfort as she could. It was difficult to judge what Harry was feeling as he was determined not to speak at all.

Lily had cornered him after the Potions class. She tried to offer her condolences but Harry brushed her away similar to the way he had with James. He didn't want them to lie about being sorry. It was insulting. Lily told Harry to come to see them at the end of the day. She was worried about him. She knew that Harry needed to come to terms with what happened. He had not fully recovered from Voldemort's death and now he had to deal with Bella as well. But Harry told her that he had too much work to do and that he wasn't really feeling up to spending time with them. Before she could argue, Harry left the Potions class, leaving her feeling more worried about her son than before.

As Harry neared the Great Hall for dinner he suddenly felt drained by the day's activities. He told Damien quietly that he didn't feel hungry and didn't want any dinner. He was going to go outside and get some fresh air. Damien was about to argue, Harry had not eaten anything since yesterday, but Harry didn't give him a chance as he walked away quickly and exited by the main doors.

Harry walked towards the great lake and collapsed next to it. He was exhausted. He hadn't slept at all last night and had spent every moment tormenting himself over Bella's death. What no one understood was the guilt that Harry was going through. No one knew that Bella had been killed because she had failed to protect the Black family ring that held a piece of Voldemort's soul. It was the loss of that Horcrux that had resulted in her death. Harry rubbed at his sleep deprived eyes to shake away the images that kept flashing through his mind. He had seen exactly what had happened that night. That was the first and only time he had experienced a vision. He had heard what Voldemort had said to her. He knew without a doubt that had Bella returned the ring to Voldemort, she would still be here today.

Harry remembered how she had broken down when he had lied to her that the Horcrux had been destroyed by the Ministry. She knew she would be punished for the loss of that Horcrux. Even Harry knew that Bella would be punished because of that, but he still didn't return the ring to her. Instead he had destroyed it, knowing full well that Bella would suffer. He never thought that she would be punished so severely as to get the Dementors Kiss though. In Harry's mind he held himself responsible for Bella's fate.

Harry came out of these depressing thoughts when he felt someone sit down silently next to him. He felt Ginny's warm hand clasp around his own. Harry didn't turn around to look at her; he was staring ahead, watching the surface of the great lake glimmer in the evening light.

"Harry, do you want to talk?" Ginny's soft voice asked.

Harry didn't respond. He knew that he wouldn't be able to explain what he felt. No one would understand. How could they? They didn't know Bella like he did. To them, Bella was a Death Eater and deserved what she got. No one would understand that Bella was betrayed by him and was sent to her death by him. He had the ring, he had it in his possession and he didn't give it back to her. No one would understand that. Harry knew they would argue that he had no choice but to destroy the ring. It was a Horcrux, it had to be destroyed. A small part of Harry believed that as well but as his guilt ridden mind was refusing to admit that, Harry continued to feel responsible for Bella's fate.

Ginny tried again to talk to Harry, he had been distant and quiet the entire day. Ginny knew that he needed someone there with him, even if Harry acted like he didn't. She tried to ask him if he was okay or if wanted to go inside. After getting no response, Ginny dejectedly made to get up and go back into the castle. She desperately wanted to be there for Harry, to be able to offer him comfort. But as Harry wasn't showing any signs of acknowledging her, she decided it was best to leave.

Just as Ginny made to move, Harry's hand shot out and grabbed her by the wrist. Ginny turned to face him, but Harry was still facing the lake, not meeting her eye. Ginny saw the desperate and silent plead in his eyes to stay there with him. Ginny sat back down and moved closer to Harry's still form. Harry still didn't let go of her hand, he held it tighter as he felt her move closer to him. He felt her comfortable weight on his shoulder and silently thanked her. Ginny wrapped an arm around him, holding him close. She knew that Harry needed someone with him, if not to talk to then just to be with. If she could provide that comfort to him then she would gladly stay there with him in silence, the entire night.

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Just to let you guys know, I have started a Yahoo group for 'The Darkness Within' and 'A Part of Me'. The link is in my Homepage. Please check it out.

Please Review. Cheers!!


	8. Damien's Gift

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Hiya!! I have to thank each and every one of you that left me such kind words. Thank you so much.

I know it's short, but it's all I could manage. I will try and update soon. Enjoy!

**Chapter Eight**

Lily watched as her classroom filled with her seventh year students. Her green eyes rested on Harry for a moment before shifting to Ron and Hermione who sat on either side of her son. She felt her heart skip a beat as she saw a rare smile flit over Harry's face before he hid it again. It seemed Ron had commented on something that Harry found very amusing. It had been two weeks now, since Bella's death and Harry was starting to show signs of recovery. Of course, Lily knew that Harry was far from healed over that particular incident, but at least he was smiling and talking to his friends again.

Lily had tried very hard to get Harry to talk about Bella. She knew that he needed to talk about his feelings regarding her death, but Harry had not succumbed to her attempts. Reluctantly she had given up but she had made Damien promise that he would try and get Harry to open up. How well that attempt was going, she didn't know. She did have more faith in the fact that Damien might be able to get Harry to open up better than her and James.

As Lily moved over to stand before her class, she couldn't help but notice how tired Harry looked. She had noticed it before but had put it down to what he had gone through, dealing with depression over Bella's death. Now as she got a good look at him, she noticed how pale he was. His vivid green eyes seemed to lack their usual shine. She decided to keep him back at the end of class and make sure he was okay.

She ran through the lecture, noticing throughout the lack of attention Harry was paying. He seemed to be fighting to keep his eyes open. Lily knew that Harry liked Potions class. He was extremely talented when it came to potion brewing and always seemed to enjoy her class. Today, however he was not paying her the slightest of attention. He wasn't bored, Lily could tell that much. He just looked completely fatigued.

She ran through the list of potions they were going to study in the next few weeks. She noticed Ron sitting up straight in his chair, his undivided attention was focused on her as she ran thorough the common potions used in Healing. Lily knew that Ron wanted to be a healer. Molly had told her that in passing.

"There are many potions used but we will only go through the ones used most frequently. The everyday potions used on most patients are the most well known ones, like, Dreamless Sleep potion, Muscle replenish potion, and many different types of pain relief potions. We will look at these in particular." Lily moved to stand behind her desk.

She went through the lecture, casting small chance glances at Harry. She knew that Harry enjoyed Potions; he was very talented in potion brewing and since he started attending her classed he made appoint of paying attention to her, so it was odd that Harry seemed so uninterested in the lecture. On closer inspection it seemed as if he was having trouble keeping his eyes open.

Ron on the other hand, had never looked so absorbed in a lecture. His eyes never left Lily and he was jotting down the notes with an enthusiastic vigour.

"There are many potent and notorious potions used in healing. Potions such as, Hatalum Potion, Sedare Potion and Comae potion are all used in healing but only in extreme and unusual cases. These potions are only used sparingly and only in small doses as to prevent other unfortunate complications. We will cover them very briefly in due course but that's enough for today."

Lily watched as the class packed up and got ready to leave. She called Harry over just as he got up from his seat.

"Any plans for tonight?" she asked as casually as she could.

Harry ran a hand through his messy locks before answering.

"Big plans, Hermione's made us study schedules that we have to stick to."

"But I thought you didn't study." Lily asked, knowing how Harry made a point to show how behind Hogwarts was with its education curriculum by not studying for any class.

"I don't, but Hermione can be a little scary when she gets on her high horse about studying and exams. Anything for a quiet life." Harry joked.

Lily smiled at Harry's words, glad that he was starting to open up again. He had been so quiet lately. Lily examined the boy standing before her. His eyes had dark circles under them and he was paler than usual. He had definitely not been sleeping well, that much was obvious. Lily tried to sound as casual as she could when she spoke, not wanting Harry to close up again.

"Well, since it sounds like you could do with a break from your 'study schedule' why don't you and Damien come over to spend some time with me and your dad tonight." Lily hurried on seeing that Harry was about to refuse her offer.

"It's been so long since your dad and I got a chance to spend some time with you boys. It'll be fun."

Harry took a moment to think it over. It had been a while since he got a chance to really talk with his parents. If Damien was going to be there as well then it would probably be best for him to join them. It wouldn't do him any harm.

"Sure, okay." Harry finally replied.

Lily smiled brightly and began to tidy up her desk, glad that she could have some time to talk to Harry later that evening.

xxx

Damien threw down his bag with an angry huff as he collapsed in the armchair near the fireplace. Ginny looked over at him, startled with his uncharacteristic foul mood.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked as the teen sat grumpily in the chair.

"Angelina! That's what's wrong with me!" Damien said fists clenched in anger.

"Angelina? What did she do?" Ginny asked, moving closer to Damien.

"She totally came down on me when I told her that I couldn't make practise this week. It's not my fault I got detention! If it wasn't for Mrs Norris, I would have totally gotten away with creating a swamp in the middle of that corridor. Angelina told me off, like I was a little boy or something!"

Ginny had to hold back her grin.

"Well, you could have held back from pranking this week. If you had done it after this week's practise, it would have worked out so much nicer." Ginny joked, causing Damien to throw her a glare.

The door to the common room opened and Ginny saw Harry, Hermione and Ron walk inside. She locked eyes with Harry and felt the usual tingle make its way down her spine when Harry smiled at her.

Harry came and sat down opposite Damien while Ron and Hermione sat on the sofa near them.

"What's wrong with you?" Harry asked as he noticed his brother's sulking expression.

"Nothing" Damien answered before Ginny said anything.

"Are you going to see mum and dad today?" Damien asked, changing the topic.

"Yeah" Harry answered.

Ron got up and walked over to the small cabinet near the wall. He pulled out five bottles of butterbeer before handing them to his friends. Harry took his bottle took a long sip. The others cast a chilling charm on their drinks before opening them. Harry was he only one who didn't like his drinks chilled.

The butterbeers were meant for Damien's party but since the party was ruined with the search for Harry they never got used. Lily had taken them to the Gryffindor common room, telling them that they could use them up. There were plenty of bottles there to last them a good while. It seemed Lily got a little carried away when she bought them for the party. Other food and drinks were brought up and left for the Gryffindors as well. Most of the cakes and sweets were gone by now.

"So, seriously, what's wrong with you?" Ron asked as he looked at Damien.

Damien ran through his account of what happened with Angelina.

"She totally embarrassed me." he finished, looking quite miserable.

Ron and Ginny continued to cheer him up while Hermione sent a 'you totally deserve it' look his way. Suddenly Harry remembered he had something for Damien which would cheer him up.

"Wait here" Harry instructed to Damien as he got up and headed for the boys dormitory. Damien looked puzzled as eh watched Harry disappear up the stairs and return momentarily, clutching a small parcel.

Harry handed over the wrapped up parcel to Damien, looking a bit awkward.

"Here, this should cheer you up." Harry said as he handed over the parcel.

"What is it?" Damien asked as he took the package from him and then winced as he remembered how Harry usually responded to that question.

Sure enough, Harry was giving him a mock glare and refused to give any sort of answer.

Damien read the small tag on the side of the parcel.

'Damy, Happy Birthday, Use this well, from your brother.'

Damien looked up at Harry, a grin spread wide on his face. It was his birthday present. Damien was looking forward to his present from Harry the most, but after the events that took place after his birthday party, Damien didn't think it was very sensitive of him to ask for his present from Harry. After all, Harry had lost someone who was close to him as his own mother. Damien had figured that Harry would give him whatever he had bought for him when her felt it was best to do so. It was now two weeks later and judging by the blush on Harry's face, he had just remembered he had yet to give his younger brother his present.

"Thanks Harry." Damien said quietly before he quickly started unwrapping his present.

The other three Gryffindors moved closer to see what Harry had got for Damien. It was curiosity more than anything else.

Damien eagerly ripped open the paper and an average sized black book fell onto his lap. Damien looked at the book for a moment before carefully picking it up. He looked up at Harry and then back at the book again. _'He's got to be joking!'_ he thought to himself. The book had nothing written on the cover. There was not a single mark on the book. Damien looked at the leather cover of the book and turned it over to see the back of it. It was just as plain and boring looking as the front. It looked like it was a diary of some sort.

"A book." Damien said out loud as if to confirm that that was indeed what everyone else was seeing as well. Harry looked like he was quite enjoying the confusion and disbelief on Damien's face.

"Okay, last year you got me a life saving pendant and this year you got me a book. I got to say, Harry, when it comes to cool gifts, you've definitely gone downhill" Damien said holding up the boring gift.

"Just open it." Harry instructed.

Damien did as Harry asked and flipped the book opened. The other three gathered around him as the book opened to reveal a strange sight. All the pages on the left hand side were blank. Not a single mark was on them. The pages on the right hand side, however, were marked with what looked like an open bowl of some sort. Damien ran his hand over the bowl and saw that it was just an image on the page, nothing special about it. He looked up at Harry, wordlessly asking him to explain.

Satisfied that he had created enough confusion around him, Harry moved forward to explain the curious looking book.

"It really is very simple. It gives you what any good book should. Knowledge."

As Harry was speaking he leaned over and let three drops of his butterbeer drop into the open bowl. At once the image of the bowl seemed to spring to life. A silver shimmer ran over the surface of the bowl sending a ripple through it. As Damien watched in amazement, the page opposite the bowl began to fill up with words. Within a matter of seconds the page was filled with the ingredients and method of making butterbeer. Damien looked up at Harry, astounded with his presents. Harry nodded his head towards the book before taking another drink from his bottle, gesturing for Damien to keep looking at the page. Damien watched as the pages filled with additional information about butterbeer, when it was first formed, who founded it, all the different properties of it and lastly what potions had butterbeer as their ingredient.

"Oh Merlin! This is so cool! It's a potion book." Ron exclaimed.

"Actually it isn't. It can work for potions but it is meant to be used for other things, transfigured objects, properties of different plants, charms and runes. It can in effect work for anything." Harry started to explain.

"You can drop pretty much anything into the bowl and the book with provide you with all the information regarding that object." Harry finished.

"It really is very useful. Think about all the help it can give you for your homework. You can use it for anything." Hermione told a much dazed looking Damien.

Harry shared a look with Damien before replying.

"Yeah, homework. That's why I got you this." Harry said in his usual sarcastic tone.

"So what am I supposed to use it for?" Damien asked as Hermione huffed at Harry's remark.

Harry smirked and pulled out a small object from his pocket. The breath caught in Damien's chest as Harry held up a small knife. Ron, Hermione and Ginny all went deathly silent as Harry held up the knife. Without saying anything, Harry dropped the knife into the bowl. The bowl swallowed the knife at once and like before, writing appeared on the opposite page. This time though, Damien noticed that small animated figures appeared on the page, acting out what were undoubtedly combat moves.

"See, I figured that while we're at Hogwarts you can't continue with your training practise. So I thought you could research the other part of your training. How to use weapons." Harry explained.

Damien could only look at the small black figurines on the page, going through different moves. He looked up at Harry with a stunned expression. He had wanted to learn how to fight like Harry did. He admired his brother's skill to fight and wanted to learn that. Never in his life did he expect Harry to teach him how to kill.

Gathering up the right words, Damien tried to get his dazed mind to work.

"Harry, this is…wow, I can't even think what to say. It's awesome." He stopped as Harry's face broke out into a grin.

"But, I don't want to learn how to use a knife. I don't want to learn how to use any kinds of weapons. I wanted to learn how to fight so that I could defend myself, like you did with those Daywalkers. I don't want to learn how to kill someone." Damien said the words carefully, hoping that Harry would understand.

The smile slipped of Harry's face and for a moment Harry just stared at his younger brother in confusion.

"But you said you wanted to learn how to fight. This is a part of it. You have to learn how to use a weapon, just like you learnt how to use a wand. There's no difference. Learn to defend yourself. The choice to actually use that knowledge is yours." Harry tried to see what the big deal was. It wasn't as if he was asking Damien to go out and kill someone. All he was saying was that it was ideal to know how to protect yourself under all circumstances.

Damien looked really uncomfortable and chanced a glance at his friends. The three of them were looking quite pale and it was apparent that none of them wanted to get involved with the discussion.

"Look, Damy, you don't need to get yourself all worked up about it. It's only a suggestion. If you want to use the book for other things then fine, go for it. It's yours; you can do as you please. I just thought that it was a good idea to learn fighting skills with weapons. And I'm not asking for you to learn to kill someone, it's actually the opposite. If you learn how to use a weapon properly, you can defend yourself and not kill the enemy." Harry watched the relief pour back to his brother's face.

"Probably just maim them really badly." Harry added in such a nonchalant way that it made Damien gulp nervously.

"I don't want to maim anyone!" Damien said in a voice that was too loud, and got him a few stares from the other occupants of the common room.

Harry looked at him in puzzlement.

"So when you say that you want to fight, what sort of damage are we talking? Because it sounds to me like you want to give the enemy a slap on the hand for attacking you and let them off." Harry asked.

Damien didn't have an answer. He looked at Harry uncomfortably, squirming a little under his stare. Harry moved forward and leant on the arm of the chair, green eyes fixed directly on Damien.

"Listen to me Damy, either you want to learn how to defend yourself, or you don't. You can't have a happy medium. If you're going to protect yourself, you have to be prepared to do anything. Sometimes you don't get a choice! If you want to protect, you have to kill." Harry told him in a harsh tone.

Harry's eyes lingered on the black stoned pendant, still around Damien's neck before his eyes locked into Damien's again. That was when Harry saw the alarm on Damien's face.

Harry moved away and stood still. He hadn't meant for the conversation to get so intense. He looked around at the panicked looking faces of his friends and realised with a jolt that he had been pressurising his brother to do something that he didn't want to do.

Harry tried to say something but found that he didn't know what to say. He picked up the book and closed it over, feeling that he should have gotten him something else for his birthday. He had totally screwed this up. He wanted to give Damien something really cool and useful, instead he got his brother all freaked out and worked up.

"I'll get you something else, if you don't want this." Harry said in a quiet voice, feeling really stupid for getting the book in the first place.

Harry made to throw the book into the fire since it was useless to him, but was stopped by Damien as he grabbed his arm. Harry stopped and watched as Damien took the book from Harry's grip. Damien tucked it in his robes before turning to look at Harry.

"I love the book, Harry. It really is cool. Thank you." he said with sincerity.

"I know that I'll use the book. Just not in the way you suggested. But like you said. The book is mine. I can do as I please. Right?" Damien asked, wanting Harry to understand.

Harry struggled to smile back at him and quickly moved away.

"I've changed my mind. I'm just going to call it a night. Tell mum I'll catch up with her later." Harry didn't wait for an answer. He headed to the stairs and disappeared into his room.

He headed for his bed and collapsed on it face down. 'What the hell is wrong with me?' he thought to himself. He didn't know why he was pushing Damien to agree to learn how to kill anyway. In all honesty, Harry didn't want Damien to kill. With a horrid jolt Harry realised that he was repeating what he had been taught when he was a kid. He remembered similar words being said to him by Bella and Lucius. How he needed to protect Lord Voldemort and that he had to kill in order to protect him. Harry felt his chest ache as all sorts of emotions ran through him. He never realised how deep the message to kill was embedded within him. In his world it was simple, kill or be killed.

He knew that Damien wouldn't hold what happened today against him. He never held anything against him, but what about the others. Ginny had looked quite pale when Harry was talking. What did she think about him now?

Harry sat up in his bed and reached for the small bedside drawer. He opened it and took out a small vial of Dreamless Sleep potion. Poppy had given him a few bottles and they were the only things that were saving him. He had managed a few nights of sleep with them. That was what he needed right now, sleep. He didn't want to think about what he had said and how he had acted right now. He figured he could deal with it all later.

The thing that bothered him was not what he had said. It was the fact that Harry still firmly believed in what he had said. He really didn't see what was wrong with learning how to kill so that you can defend yourself and others. Harry had grown up believing this, it wasn't easy to change your way of thinking so quickly.

Harry rolled over onto his side and felt his exhausted mind relax as the potion took its effect and Harry slipped into much needed sleep.

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Again, I want to reassure you guys that the story does have an actual plot. Remember that everything you read has a purpose. It will hopefully come together soon. The main plot will come soon, in the next two chappies or so!! Please Review.

P.S. Since so many of you asked, I've named my baby girl, Zara.


	9. Trust

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

So sorry for not updating in so long. I had my hands full these last few days. I hope to update sooner. Hope you enjoy the new chapter!!

**Chapter Nine**

Lily walked past the groups of students, making their way to the Great Hall for breakfast. They cast odd looks her way as she was walking in the opposite direction to most of the castles habitants. Lily was making her way steadily to the Gryffindor tower. Lily had waited anxiously for morning to come so that she could see Harry. Damien had come alone the night before, saying that Harry had changed his mind and had gone to bed.

Lily was disappointed as she had made plans to spend time with both her sons that evening. Lily had noticed the uncharacteristic troubled look on Damien's face. But try as she might she couldn't get Damien to talk to her about it. It was apparent that something had transpired between the brothers that night. Damien only spent an hour with Lily and James before claiming that he was tired and had left hurriedly to return to his dorm.

Lily had gone to bed early that night but had not managed to sleep very well. She promised herself that she would speak to Harry first thing in the morning. She knew that if Damien was upset about something it meant that Harry had to be upset as well.

Lily picked up the pace as she approached the staircase. She wanted to speak to Harry before he disappeared for class.

xxx

Ginny waited until the others had left to go downstairs to Breakfast before heading towards the boys' dormitory. She thanked the old fashioned rules that meant that although boys couldn't enter the girls' dormitory, girls could enter the boys' dormitory without any hassle.

Ron had said that Harry as still in bed and was supposedly still asleep. Ginny knew that Harry was going to be uncomfortable because of what had happened last night. The conversation between him and Damien had taken an awkward turn. Ginny hated to admit it to herself but she had been a little freaked out by what Harry had said.

Last night, after Damien left to see his parents, the three teens stayed up to discuss what had happened. They felt that they had spent so much time with Harry but still didn't know him at all. When Damien had returned back from seeing his parents he tiredly joined them. It was then that they all calmed down and realised one thing. They had been by Harry's side for so long now that they almost made themselves believe that Harry was a normal wizard. The sad fact was that Harry was not normal and no matter how hard everyone tried, Harry would never be normal.

Last night was a reminder to them of how Harry had been brought up. How the instinct to kill to survive was a normal part of his upbringing. By the time the four teens retired to bed, all of them were thinking deeply about Harry's upbringing. None of them really knew how Harry was brought up. They knew the basics of what Harry's past involved, loyalty to Voldemort, the assignments he completed and the things he must have done to get the title of 'The Dark Prince'. But all four of them had seen the other side to Harry, the side that had protected them and others from harm. The part of him that rebelled against his upbringing and protected the innocent. It was because of this part of him that made the four teens quietly promise to themselves that they would not judge Harry. They would always be by his side no matter what they might learn about him in the future.

No one was more determined about this than Ginny. That was why she had stayed behind as the others left for breakfast. She wanted to see Harry and talk to him before the others got a chance. He had to know that nothing had changed between them.

She stood in front of his door for a moment before knocking twice. When there was no answer she quietly opened the door and stepped inside. The four beds were empty as Ron, Dean, Seamus and Neville had left for breakfast. There was only one bed with the drapes still around them. Ginny walked over and gently opened them. Harry was still asleep. Ginny had expected him to be awake by now. She reckoned she should close the drapes and leave but somehow couldn't pull herself away from the sleeping teen. Harry looked so cute sleeping like that, on his stomach, hair messier than ever. He looked so…innocent. Ginny felt herself being pulled closer towards him.

With a mischievous gleam in her eyes, Ginny moved closer to the bed and climbed onto it. She lay down next to him. She remembered the horribly embarrassing time Harry had woken up to find her lying next to him. She had fallen asleep while trying to bring down his horrendous fever. Ginny would never forget how awkward she had felt when she had woken up to find Harry awake and in obvious confusion as to why she was lying next to him. She decided it was only fair that she got a chance to rectify that embarrassing moment.

Just as she reached up to brush back Harry's bangs, his emerald eyes shot open and looked directly at her. Ginny waited for him to react, to sit up and ask confusedly 'what are you doing here?' or something like that, but Harry only cracked one of his smiles at her, one of his smiles that were genuine and always made Ginny melt.

"Now that's what I call a wake up call." Harry said as he rolled over onto his back.

Ginny smiled at him and moved back a little. She was glad that he seemed to be normal with her. He was always much more at ease with her when they were alone.

"Sorry, couldn't help it. You just looked way too cute and cosy" she remarked with a smirk.

Harry eyed her for a moment, not saying anything; Ginny knew he was going to retaliate for her calling him cute and cosy.

"Hmm, tell me Miss Weasley what would anyone say if they were to see you in my bed?" Harry asked, in a playful tone.

Ginny blushed but was determined not to break eye contact with him. She wasn't going to let him win at this game.

"They could think what they like. I've never cared for what anyone else should think, why start now?" she answered and just to make her point she moved closer to him until she could feel his warm breath on her face.

"Ginerva" Harry said in a fake warning tone.

"Don't call me that. Only my dad calls me that." Ginny replied.

Harry surprised her suddenly by wrapping a strong arm around her waist, in effect stealing her breath and threatening her brave act.

"Alright Ginny, so why the comforting wake up call?" he asked, eyes locked with hers.

Ginny kept eye contact when she responded.

"Can't I come up to see you?"

Harry gave her a calculating look, one eyebrow raised slightly.

"Did you want to say something that couldn't have waited until after breakfast?" he asked finally.

Ginny knew not to lie to Harry. He knew that she was here to see him largely because of last night. Ginny managed to wrap her fingers around Harry's and held on tight. Her expression changed to one more serious although her eyes still kept their warmth.

"It doesn't matter, last night and everything, I didn't want you to be all freaked out about it" Ginny quietly said.

After a few awkward moments Harry replied.

"I don't think I'm the one who was freaked."

Ginny bit her bottom lip as a flush of shame washed over her. Harry had noticed their reactions last night, not that it wasn't obvious. Ginny however refused to let that fail her. She moved even closer to Harry, not letting him look away from her.

"Harry…"

"It doesn't matter." Harry curtly cut her off.

Harry's eyes had lost the playful look and Ginny could see the expressionless mask already drifting into place. She tightened her grip on him. She really didn't want him to close up.

Ginny was desperate to make Harry understand that they didn't think ill of him, that she didn't think ill of him! She didn't want Harry to think that last night he had revealed something about himself that they already didn't know. It wasn't his fault that they had momentarily forgotten his past.

Ginny moved to close the small gap between them. Placing her hand on Harry's face she leaned in and kissed him. She kissed him with all the sincerity she had. This was the first time that Ginny had initiated a kiss. She really wanted Harry to see that she was fine with him, happy to be with him. That nothing had changed. When she pulled away she saw Harry's emerald eyes glisten with surprise. She saw the small smile on his lips.

"We knew this about you before we decided to become close to you. It's not like you hid anything from us. Last night hasn't changed anything." Ginny told him truthfully hoping that he would believe her. She could tell by the way he was looking at her, that he did believe her. For the first time Harry showed trust towards someone other than Damien.

Grinning like mad, Ginny made to get up but realised that Harry was still holding her around the waist. That was when she noticed the playful smirk on his face. She noticed that his whole body was much more relaxed than a few moments ago.

Putting on a serious voice, Ginny tried to get away from his grip.

"Mr Potter, would you be ever so kind as to release me from your bear hug?"

Harry only responded by pulling her even closer. Ginny tried but couldn't keep a straight face. She laughed as Harry teasingly pulled her so that she was lying almost on top of him.

"Well, we won't get into any trouble for this." Ginny joked.

"I thought you didn't care if anyone saw you with me?" Harry asked, emerald eyes shinning with mischief.

Ginny sat up and gave Harry a funny look. She leaned over and captured him in another kiss. She silently loved the fact that Harry didn't pull away from her. He was quite willing for Ginny to be close to him. Just as Ginny pulled away she heard a sound from behind her.

"Hem Hem!"

Ginny whipped around and saw to her horror that Lily was standing at the door, staring at her who was sitting almost on top of Harry. With a yelp Ginny made to get away from Harry and his bed as fast as possible. In her haste to get away she managed to somehow get her foot caught in the covers and as a result came tumbling off the bed. She quickly stood up and faced a stern looking Lily. Harry on the other hand was still lying in his bed looking quite relaxed with the whole embarrassing event.

Ginny didn't know what to say or where to look. Lily Potter was a strict teacher and also happened to be Harry's mum, which made the whole situation all the more uncomfortable and embarrassing. Ginny stood red faced but didn't dare say anything.

"Miss Weasley, you better hurry along or you'll be late for your first class." Lily said in a calm voice. She didn't look very happy though.

"Yes Professor" Ginny said quickly. Without looking back at the still smirking Harry, Ginny rushed out of the room.

Lilly closed the door after Ginny left and turned to look sternly at Harry. The raven haired boy sat up in his bed and looked back at his mum with a smile on his face.

"What?" he asked innocently when Lily had not spoken.

Lily cocked up an eyebrow at him in response.

"Oh calm down, nothing happened. We were just talking" Harry said as he climbed out of bed.

"Well, unless you are stone deaf, I hardly think you needed to be in such close proximity to talk." Lily replied.

Harry turned to her and asked.

"Can I help you with something?"

Lily decided to go with the topic change. She would address the whole issue with Ginerva Weasley later. Besides, she didn't really know what to say to Harry about it. He didn't look embarrassed with what had happened in the least. This was definitely a job for James.

"I wanted to come and see you as you refused to come and see me last night." Lily said purposefully making Harry sound guilty.

Harry started pulling out his school robes.

"I was tired"

"So I see" Lily responded.

Harry turned to face his mum with a sigh.

"It isn't a big deal. I was too tired and I went to bed early. I figured you would understand. I'll come and spend the weekend with you if that makes you happy, okay. Now I have to go, or I'll be late for class." With that Harry left to go and get changed and get to class.

Lily sat down on Harry's bed with a sigh. She hardly ever got a chance to talk to Harry. He was always rushing off. She doubted that Harry would spend the weekend with her. He was only saying that so that she would leave him alone. Lily figured she better get up as well, otherwise she would be late for her class.

Just as Lily got up to leave something caught her eye. On the bottom of the bed, almost hidden under the corner of the drapes was an empty potion vial. Curiosity took over Lily and she picked it up. She looked closely at the vial and noticed the Hogwarts crest engraved on it.

Lily knew that the potion was taken by Harry as it was under his bed. She hesitantly brought the empty vial up to her nose and took a sniff to decipher what potion had once been in it. At once she knew that it was Dreamless Sleeping potion. She had spent countless hours brewing this for the school infirmary. There was no way she wouldn't recognise it.

It wasn't all that odd that Harry had taken the sleeping potion. After all it wasn't a dangerous potion to take or anything like that. Nevertheless, Lily found herself getting very angry that Harry had taken this. She instinctively reached for the small bedside drawer and pulled it open. Sure enough there were half a dozen bottles of sleeping potion lying there. All of them had the Hogwarts crest engraved on them, indicating that they belonged to the school infirmary.

Lily stood up still clutching onto the empty vial and stormed out of the room. It was time to pay a certain school nurse a visit.

xxx

Poppy placed the last file in the filing cabinet and sat down at her desk. There was too much paperwork associated with this job. She had to make sure that every student had their medical history up to date and with all the accidents that happened in this school it was near impossible to keep on top of it. Finally she had finished the gruelling task and had sat down at her desk. She had stayed up much of the night to get it all done. Just as Poppy reached for her cup of tea she heard the doors to the hospital wing open.

Sighing she got up and walked out of her office. It was bound to be another student that had somehow got themselves into trouble. 'Here we go' she thought to herself as she opened the office door and walked out. She was quite surprised to see the potion professor standing in her hospital wing instead of a student.

"Lily! Oh I was expecting…oh never mind. What can I do for you?" she asked pleasantly.

Lily however didn't look very pleased. She briskly made her way towards the school nurse.

"I need to speak with you. It's urgent." She said.

Poppy looked at her with surprise. She gestured towards her office and both women went inside.

"What's wrong, Lily?" Poppy asked as soon as they were seated.

"This!" Lily said as she held up the empty vial.

Poppy looked blankly at the vial.

"Um…I don't understand…"

"You gave this to Harry, didn't you?" Lily asked in an accusatory tone.

Poppy looked at her with confusion.

"Yes but…" Poppy was once again cut off.

"You gave him a full stack of sleeping potion! I found at least half a dozen in his drawer. All of them had the school crest on them, which means they came from you!" Lily told her heatedly.

"Lily, I don't understand what the problem is" Poppy said.

"The problem is obvious. You should not have given him so many vials. What possessed you to prescribe him so many bottles? What if he took more than one at any time? You know how dangerous that is! You shouldn't have given him these without letting me know!" Lily hadn't meant to say that last part out aloud.

"Lily, Harry's seventeen. He is quite capable of knowing what dosage to take." Poppy calmly told the enraged mother.

"And as for letting you know, Harry's medical history is private. If he wanted you to know he would have told you himself. It isn't my place to inform you."

Unknown to the school nurse, that was the thing that was bothering Lily the most. That was the reason she was so angry and annoyed. That she was there at the school and she didn't know that Harry had to take sleeping potions to sleep at night. Harry needed help but he hadn't come to her for help, he had gone to Poppy.

"Just tell me why you prescribed these to him!" Lily asked in a forced calm voice.

Poppy looked at Lily with surprise. She always liked Lily. She had always thought of her as a sensible and well mannered woman. Today however, she was acting very rash and rude.

"Lily, I'm sorry but that is Harry's business. I shouldn't be the one to…"

"Poppy. Just tell me! I'm his mother. If he's in some sort of trouble or if he's unwell then I should know about it!" Lily exclaimed loudly.

Poppy saw the tears threatening to come out in Lily's emerald eyes. She felt a stab of pity wash through her. She had been through so much in the past year. She was only looking out for her son. With a sigh, Poppy decided to explain.

"Alright, Harry came to me about a week ago. It was quite late in the night and he…well…he just looked awful. I could tell that he had not been keeping well. He told me that he needed some Dreamless Sleeping potion so I..."

"So you just gave him it! Did you not think to ask why he needed it? You should have at least asked him why he…" Lily was cut off as Poppy raised her voice.

"If you would let me finish!" Poppy almost yelled.

Lily quietened down but threw her a glare nonetheless.

"I did ask him if he wanted to talk about what the problem was but he was adamant not to talk about it!"

Poppy was very similar to Lily, in the sense that her temper was not one to be tested either. She forced herself to calm down a little before continuing.

"I figured that he was having problems because of…because of what happened with…with Lestrange." Poppy watched as Lily's face drained of whatever little colour was left.

"He was quite…um, well distraught, I guess is the only word, about what happened. He said that he was having trouble settling down at night and asked if I would help him by giving him some Dreamless Sleeping potion." Poppy looked on in sympathy as Lily's face collapsed into her hands. With a gentler voice Poppy continued.

"I care deeply for Harry, if he asked for my help I would always give it to him, if it were in my power to do so. I understand that you are concerned about his health and you should be. You're his mother. But Lily, don't get angry with me for helping him. I can only imagine what he's going through right now, losing…her…like that." Poppy faltered a little but pushed on.

"He couldn't sleep because of it, so tell me how could I not help him?"

Lily looked up at Poppy. She felt awful for losing her temper like that. Poppy was only trying to help Harry. Lily had noticed that Harry was looking worn out these last few weeks. She had suspected that Harry was having trouble with sleeping but she didn't think it was so bad that in order to catch a few hours sleep he needed the help of potions.

As much as Lily hated to admit it, Bella's death had shook Harry. He was undoubtedly suffering nightmares because of her death. Now that Lily thought about it, Harry had looked quite worn out and tired before her death as well. Lily remembered on Damien's birthday, she had noticed the dark circles under his eyes and she had tried to talk to him about it, but like always Harry had avoided her questions. That meant that Harry had been suffering for quite a long time, maybe since Voldemort's death.

"Lily, are you okay?"

Poppy's voice shook Lily out of her reverie.

Lily quickly got up, muttered a haste goodbye and rushed out of the infirmary. She had to talk to James about Harry. Both parents had to talk to Harry about this. It was only when she was hurrying to find James that she saw her fifth year students, standing outside her class, waiting for their potions lesson.

xxx

Harry was late for his Defence Against the Dark Arts class. As Harry walked in, he noticed that James was waiting impatiently for him to take his seat.

"Mr Potter, take care not to be late for my class again, otherwise I will have to give you detention. Please take your seat." James told him rather harshly.

Perplexed at his dad's unusual mood, Harry took his usual seat between Ron and Hermione.

"He's got his tail in a twist today. He's already taken points from Dean for taking out his books too slowly" Ron whispered to Harry.

Harry knew his dad was a strict professor but this was not like him at all. Furthermore, James was not likely to take points away from Gryffindor. Wondering what was wrong; Harry took out his books and started on the notes already put up on the board.

The lesson was uncharacteristically tense. James was in a foul mood and was doing nothing to hide it. Harry found himself getting more and more worked up at James's behaviour. He was just sitting there, at his desk, visibly seething with anger about something. He had pretty much left the class to write down the notes that kept appearing on the board.

When class ended, James was the first one to leave.

"Whatever was all that about?" Ron asked as they packed their bags.

"Merlin knows" Hermione responded.

They were all so wrapped up in what was wrong with James that none of them even remembered the awkwardness of last night.

xxx

"Hiya Harry!"

Harry groaned as the small fourth year rushed towards him. Harry had only just walked into the hall for lunch with Ron and Hermione when Dennis had enthusiastically rushed over to him.

Harry didn't even answer him but that didn't stop the small Gryffindor.

"I was just wondering Harry, um, I have this transfiguration essay that I can't really work out and Damien said that you are really good at transfiguration and everything, of course you're good at everything! So I was wondering if you could, you know, help me with it."

Harry just looked at Dennis in bemusement for a moment before turning and walking away from him. Dennis however didn't understand this and hurried along behind him.

"It doesn't have to be in until next week, so you can help me whenever you have time, I'm sure that you'll get the answer right away, you know, being the most powerful wizard and all, but I was wondering if you could help me because transfiguration is the only thing I'm not good at. I'm okay with most classes but…"

Dennis was cut off as Harry spun around and Dennis only just stopped himself from bumping into him.

"Listen to me closely because I'm only going to say this once." Harry hissed at him.

Dennis gulped a little but stood listening to him.

"I don't care what you're good at and nor will I ever care. Stop pestering me or _this_ most powerful wizard will transfigure _you_ into a bug."

Harry left the rather hurt and pale looking Dennis at the door, and spotted Damien sitting at the table, already half way through his lunch. Harry, Hermione and Ron joined the fourteen year old at the table for lunch.

Hermione's face was pretty red after witnessing Harry belittling Dennis. She sat in stony silence while the boys talked.

"Guess what Harry?" Damien asked as soon as Harry had sat down.

"The first set of Aurors are here for the Duel club. Guess who one of them is?"

Harry shrugged, he didn't particularly care.

"Tonks!" Ron said loudly.

Damien turned to him in astonishment.

"How did you know?" he asked.

"I just saw her walk into the Hall" Ron answered as he pointed towards the doors.

Harry spun around to see the bubblegum pink haired Auror walk in with two other Aurors. Harry didn't recognise them though. Harry felt a bizarre feeling erupt inside him at the sight of Tonks. He met her eyes and she gave him a hearty wave. Harry only smiled back at her, feeling strangely very happy to see her.

Before Tonks could come over to talk to him she was met with Professor June and the three Aurors were ushered up to the staff table.

"I'm definitely going to check out the Duel club. I want to see what the Aurors are going to teach." Ron said.

"What's the matter with you?" Damien asked when he noticed that Hermione had hardly touched her food.

Ron quietly filled him in on what had happened with Dennis.

"Can't you ever be nice?" Damien asked his brother with a sigh.

"No" Harry answered simply.

"All he did was ask for your help." Hermione said quietly. She spoke for the first time since coming into the hall.

"He shouldn't be asking me for help. If he can't do his work then he should tell his professors. That is what they are there for" Harry replied.

Hermione opened her mouth to argue but seemed to change her mind.

"Come on Hermione, Dennis was very annoying right now. He should lay off Harry for a while." Ron added.

Hermione refused to speak to them and after a few minutes got up and walked away to sit with Dennis, no doubt to offer him help with the essay.

"She's too soft" Ron said as they went back to their lunch.

"Her and the rest of Hogwarts population. You have to figure out your own problems. That's the only way you learn. That's how I learned. I never had anyone tell me the answer. You have to work it out yourself." Harry stopped as Ron visibly tensed at the mention of Harry's childhood education.

Harry mentally scolded himself. He had to stop doing this. Damien cleared his throat, catching Harry's attention.

"I was checking out the book this morning." He said as casually as he could.

Harry turned his full attention to him.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool." Damien replied with one of his big grins plastered over his face.

Harry waited to hear what Damien had been using it for.

"Did you know that there are three thousand two hundred and fifty two different potions that use human hair? And ebony hair is preferred. And don't even get me started on toe nails…"

Damien stopped and laughed as Harry dropped his head into his hands and shook his head in shame. Ron laughed as well as Harry looked up at Damien with a 'that-book-is-wasted-on-you' look. But Harry was laughing by the time Damien finished listing all the stupid things he had checked with his book.

Ginny walked in just before lunch was over. She immediately turned a shade of beetroot red as she met Harry's eyes. Harry only smirked at her, making the other two boys look on in puzzlement.

"Is everything alright?" Ron asked, looking between Harry and his sister.

"Everything is fine Ronald!" Ginny answered a little too quickly.

Ron kept throwing her and Harry cautious looks but didn't say anything.

Harry leaned over and whispered to her.

"So much for being brave and not caring what others think!" Harry teased her.

"I don't care what others think but I do care what your mother thinks!" Ginny told him in a humiliated voice.

Harry laughed and only stopped when Ginny threw him a glare. He smiled apologetically at her.

"Where were you anyway, Lunch is almost over" Damien asked Ginny.

"I was helping Professor Flitwick. There was a whole load of quills that had exploded in class just before the end of the lesson. We were having a class test and some idiots had tried to cheat using 'quick answer quills'. They exploded in class and covered everything in ink." Ginny shook her head.

"Where did they get them from?" Damien asked.

Ginny pulled out a handful of small colourful leaflets, all advertising some type of potion or artefact. She threw them onto the table.

"Apparently these came with the Daily Prophet last week. Adverts that promise quick fix solutions and success. There were a few items in there that are supposed to help you in wizarding exams. Potions that make you more intelligent, potions to better your memory, loads of stupid things. Most of the students still had these stuffed in their pockets." Ginny told them.

Damien picked one up and saw an advert for a potion promising to 'help build those abs and six pack'. He put it back down again with a nod.

"Yeah, I remember them coming last week." He said, shooting that particular leaflet a wishful glance.

They all finished their lunch and got up, ready for their next class. Before Ginny could leave, Harry grabbed a hold of her hand and pulling her near him he whispered to her.

"I don't care what anyone thinks, that was the best wake up call I have ever received."

Harry left for his next class leaving behind a slightly blushing but grinning Ginny.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Please let me know what you think!! cheers.


	10. Control

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Hiya!! Thanks to all who reviewed. Hope you enjoy the chappie, it's a long one. Enjoy!

WARNING : This chapter contains offensive language and one scene that may be disturbing for some.

**Chapter Ten**

Lily closed the door as soon as the last student left her classroom. Finally the classes were over for the day. She had not had a chance to speak to James all day. He was no where to be found at Lunch. Lily wondered what he was up to. Lily was desperate to talk to James. She wanted to tell him about Harry. She had to get all her feelings out. Her talk with Poppy had bothered her all day.

She entered the Great Hall and quickly let her eyes scan the staff table. With a frustrated groan she turned and left the hall seeing that James was yet again missing.

xxx

Harry stifled another yawn as he trudged up the steps leading to the common room. He was blocking out most of the talk happening around him as he usually did when Damien and Ron talked about Quidditch. It wasn't that he had no interest in the subject. It was just that he wasn't that fanatical about the sport. The only thing that held his interest to that level was probably duelling. Or all the training he did when he was 'Alex'. That was the only thing he could imagine being this excited and caught up in.

As soon as they came towards the portrait of the Fat Lady, Harry caught sight of Tonks waiting for them.

"Oh good you're here. I forgot to get the password and I've been out here for ages!" Tonks complained.

"Good to see you too, Tonks!" Damien said sarcastically.

The four Gryffindors and Auror climbed into the common room. The group headed straight for their usual spot next to the fire.

"So why were you waiting outside the common room?" Hermione asked when everyone was seated.

"I was waiting to see you guys!" Tonks told her with a smile.

"I didn't get a chance to speak to any of you since I arrived, so I figured I would spend some time with all of you this evening." She explained.

"So, what have you planned for the Duelling club?" Ron asked, getting straight to the point.

Harry met Tonks eyes and saw the excitement in her at once.

"Lots" she replied cryptically.

"You're not going to tell us are you?" Ginny asked.

"Nope!" she replied, enjoying the exasperated looks Ron and Damien threw at her.

"You'll have to come and see for yourselves."

With a hesitant look at Harry she asked,

"All of you will be coming, won't you?"

Harry didn't respond as the other three nodded their heads. Damien looked over at Harry. He knew that Harry wasn't going to go.

"Harry, I take it you won't be coming along?" Tonks asked out right.

Harry smirked at her before answering,

"I think the novelty of seeing Aurors in action has worn out on me. I've seen them in action plenty of times."

Tonks went a little red but recovered well. Ron quickly jumped back to drilling Tonks about what she would be teaching.

"At least tell us how long you're going to be teaching here?" he asked, when Tonks refused to let out any information about the lessons.

"One month. All the Aurors are taking it in one month turns. There is a team of four Aurors sent out at one time."

"So, who's in your team?" Ginny asked.

"Thomas, Green and Ferguson." Tonks replied.

"So, no one we know huh?" Damien said.

Tonks shook her head.

"Guess not, but don't worry, Sirius and Remus are due to come and teach as well."

She took another glance at Harry before adding,

"And, um, Moody and Frank as well."

Harry's head snapped up at the mention of Frank Longbottom.

"When are they coming?" Harry asked, trying not to sound that interested.

"I don't know, it depends on the Ministry's schedule" Tonks replied.

Harry felt his heart flutter uncomfortably at the thought of Frank being at Hogwarts. It wasn't so much that he would be uncomfortable with Frank. He didn't have any problems with him. It was more because of Neville. Harry hadn't even spoken to Neville yet. Things were still horribly awkward between them. He didn't know how things would go with Frank, Neville and himself all together at Hogwarts. Awkward didn't seem a strong enough word.

"Anyway, I better go. I want to see James before I turn in for the night." Tonks said.

"Oh, good luck" Ron said quietly, but Tonks heard him.

At Tonks questioning look, he clarified.

"He's in a rotten mood today. I don't think I've seen him that angry."

Damien looked like he was going to comment but changed his mind.

"Oh, really? I guess that's my fault." She said in an ashamed voice.

"Your fault?" it was Harry who asked the question.

"Yeah, I saw him this morning when we arrived. I told him about Blake and he got all upset. I shouldn't have said anything." Tonks said regretfully.

"Blake?" Harry asked a scowl already on his face upon hearing his name.

The rest looked confusedly between Harry and Tonks.

"Yeah, Charles Blake. You…you remember him, right?" Tonks asked Harry cautiously.

"I think I vaguely recall him." Harry answered in a clipped tone. He wasn't about to forget him in a hurry. He was someone that Harry had yet to even the score with.

Again, Tonks blushed but continued quickly.

"Yeah, well, I told your dad what happened to him and I don't think he was ready for it." Tonks told him.

"What happened to Blake?" Harry asked, wondering why his dad would care either way.

"I told him about Blake's demotion." Tonks answered with a sigh.

Harry looked confusedly at her.

"Why should that bother dad?" he asked before he could help it.

It was Tonks turn to look confused.

"You know…because, because your dad was trying to get him fired." Tonks answered.

Tonks saw the shocked expressions both Harry and Damien wore.

"You…you didn't know?" she asked hesitantly, cursing herself under her breath.

Both boys shook their heads. Tonks felt her face heat up. Great, she was really messing up today.

"Why was dad trying to get him fired?" Damien asked. He knew that his dad didn't get on with Blake, but he didn't think it was very ethical of his dad to try and get him fired because of it.

Tonks' face blanched at the question. She looked at Harry before getting back up.

"I don't know. I should really get going. It's getting late." She knew she was going to get it from James now. If Harry and Damien didn't know then that meant that James was keeping it from them.

"Tonks sit down, it's only eight o'clock. Tell me why dad's after Blake?" Harry instructed.

"Really, Harry, I've done enough damage as it is. You should just ask James." Tonks pleaded.

"Tonks, tell me." Harry said again, a little more forcefully.

Tonks sat down and resigned to tell them. The damage was already done. It wasn't going to do any more harm.

"Why is dad trying to get him fired?" Harry repeated the question. Harry knew that the slime ball had to have done something really bad to piss his dad off. The question was what.

"What did Blake do?" Harry asked.

At this Tonks looked up quite surprised.

"I think that should be obvious" she was speaking directly to Harry.

"What?" Harry inquired.

"He hurt you!"

xxx

Lily found James sitting alone in his living quarters. She hurried inside the room, glad to have finally found him.

"James! Where have you been? I've looked all over for you…" she stopped as she saw her husband properly. James was sitting with his head bowed, shoulders hunched. Both his hands were clasped together and he looked deep in thought.

"James! What's wrong?" she asked with concern. She hurried over to him and sat across from him.

James looked up at his wife but didn't say anything. His jaw was clenched tightly and his hazel eyes were swimming with suppressed rage. Lily had only seen him this distressed a few times in her life.

"James what happened?" Lily asked again. All thought of talking about Harry had left her at the sight of her distressed husband.

James quietly told her what Tonks had told him. Lily was completely shocked that the Ministry had decided to keep Blake as an Auror. With Harry being named the Wizarding world's hero, she would have thought that Blake would be adequately punished for hurting him. He had cast an Unforgivable on Harry when he was captured. He failed to give Harry the medical attention he needed. Lily knew it was part of the Aurors protocol that anyone captured, whether they are a Death Eater or not, should be given medical attention if they need it. Of course this wasn't always followed, as the case with Blake clearly showed.

"Can't you appeal against the decision?" Lily asked.

James shook his head. Lily tried to comfort her husband.

"James, just forget about him. We can't do anything about the Ministry's decision. Just don't think about it." Lily said, not knowing what else to say.

James looked up at Lily, a fierce look in his eyes.

"I can't _forget_ about it, Lily!" James hissed through clenched teeth.

"I can't forget what he did! I can't forget how he hurt Harry! He tortured my son and the very people I work for aren't doing a _single_ thing about it!" James stood up and started pacing.

"I've worked for the Ministry for 20 years! Two decades of my life was spent in the ministry's service and this is what they do to me! They let a person who intentionally hurt my son, walk away with no reprimands." James shouted.

"Blake has been punished…" Lily tried to say.

"Demotion! He's been demoted down by one rank. One rank! He'll make that up in no time." James spat.

"Lily stood up as well and walked over to him. His pacing was making her irate.

"You have to calm down! Shouting about it isn't going to help." Lily told him. She hated it when James acted like this.

James stopped his pacing and threw Lily a glare. After a moment though, he sat back down. He ran a hand through his messy hair and let out a frustrated sigh.

"I just can't believe Blake walked away from his suspension like this." he said a little calmly.

"I really thought that he would get what he deserved. I wanted his Auror badge to be taken away from him after what he did." James' voice faltered. He closed his eyes and willed the image of Harry's bruised and battered body to go away. He couldn't forget how hurt Harry was, how injured he had been when he came back after his trail. The vivid bruises on Harry's neck had made James lose whatever patience he had. He would never forget that image.

"James, I'm angry at the Ministry as well, I wanted Blake to be punished as well, but if that didn't happen there's nothing we can do about it. Don't fret over something you have no control over." Lily said trying to calm him down.

James could only nod his head. He knew that she was right, but he couldn't get rid of all the anger he was feeling. He was feeling betrayed by the Ministry. At the present time James wasn't even sure that he wanted to be a part of the Ministry anymore. The thing that was killing him was that Blake had gotten away with hurting Harry.

James told Lily that he was going out for a while. He needed to think and sort out his thoughts.

xxx

"What?"

Harry wanted to be sure he understood what Tonks was saying.

"He actually hit him?" Damien asked in awe.

Tonks nodded her head in response.

"James was in such a fury, I don't think anyone could have stood in his way. It took three Aurors to pull him away from Blake." Tonks said.

"Didn't he get in trouble for hitting Blake?" Ron asked.

"I suppose he would have but allowances were made because of what Blake had done. I heard that Blake was recently trying to press charges against James for assault but that didn't go anywhere." Tonks told them.

"Why?" Damien asked before he could stop himself.

Tonks looked pointedly at Harry. She didn't need to say it out loud.

"Oh!" Damien said, understanding what had happened. Harry had killed Voldemort, unintentionally making himself the Wizarding world's hero. The Ministry wasn't going to do anything against the Potters. It would be a very stupid step indeed.

"Blake was suspended from duty. He would have had his Badge taken away as well but by the time his investigation was completed…well, the Ministry decided that taking away his job was unfair. They gave him back his job but demoted him to the lower rank." Tonks finished.

At last, Tonks managed to get away from the common room. She left quickly after answering as many questions as she could. Most of them were from Damien and Ron. Harry had stayed pretty much quiet.

As Harry lay in his bed that night he found his head filled with all sorts of thoughts. He felt strangely annoyed that his dad had gone after Blake. He knew why he did and understood it perfectly but a small part of him was screaming inside '_damn it dad, you should have left him to me!_'

He knew that his dad was only trying to protect him, but that annoyed him more than comforted him.

xxx

As the group of five made their way to breakfast the next morning, Harry silently resolved to talk to his dad. He had to remind him that he wasn't a child that needed protecting. He could fight his own battles.

Harry snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a familiar name being spoken. Harry's head jerked up as he heard the name 'Bellatrix'. He looked up and saw a few steps ahead of him; Nott was walking to the Great Hall with his usual group of Slytherins. The skinny Slytherin was talking loudly about something and had mentioned Bella's name.

Harry had many problems with Nott senior and had only run into his son when he was stuck at Hogwarts last year. He discovered that he didn't have a lot of patience for Nott junior either.

Harry narrowed his eyes at Nott but tried to keep from listening to his conversation. He didn't think he had anything nice to say about Bella. After all Nott senior and Bella were always at each others throats. It was natural that Nott's son would say something offensive about her. The Slytherin was talking rather loudly though and Harry couldn't block out his words.

"…just heard yesterday she died. Don't know where she was but it's obvious her family were hiding her. Waste of time if you ask me. She was dead in any sense, had her soul sucked out long ago. Her family should have just given her over to the Ministry." Nott was saying with a sneer.

Harry felt Damien's hand hold onto his as he reached for his wand. Damien whispered to him.

"Just ignore him, Harry. Don't listen to him."

Harry moved his hand away from the pocket of his robes and continued on walking. All he had to do was get to the Great Hall. If he got there, he would be able to refrain himself from killing the Slytherin.

"If she had been taken to Azkaban and given the Dementors Kiss there, it would have been a more dignified death. But I heard she was sentenced the Kiss by the Dark Lord himself" Nott had not finished yet.

Harry kept on walking; his mind was focused on getting to the Great Hall. He tried really hard to control the rage that was engulfing him on the inside. There were quite a few students making their way to breakfast. They heard Nott as well and were listening whole heartedly.

"I guess it will be in the papers soon. News of her death I mean. I found out from family back home." Nott said. He was clearly enjoying the focus he was getting from the surrounding students.

"Why did the Dark Lord punish her so severely? She must have done something really stupid." Another Slytherin asked.

Nott sniggered and then continued quite oblivious to the fact that Harry was walking behind him.

"She did do something very stupid! You remember the papers reported that the Dark Lord had created Horcruxes? Well, she had been given one to protect and the stupid bitch went and lost it! Can you imagine that? The dumb whore managed to lose one of the Horcruxes. No wonder her soul was sucked out…" Nott never managed to finish.

The sound of rushing wind was all he heard before a force knocked him to the ground. Nott looked up from the floor and saw Harry coming straight at him. Harry's eyes had darkened a few shades and were fixed squarely on him. His mouth was twisted in anger and the look in his eyes was murderous.

The Slytherins that were walking along with Nott pulled out their wands before they even registered who it was that had attacked Nott. They stood dumbly looking at Harry. Harry waved his hand and they were blasted out of the way. Chaos broke out among the surrounding students as the blast caused the three Slytherins to hit the wall and slide down into a heap on the floor, clearly unconscious. They all backed away from Harry, not wanting to come between him and Nott.

Damien, Ron, Hermione and Ginny watched as Harry strode towards Nott and picked him up with one hand. They watched in fear as Harry slammed Nott against the wall.

"I'm going to get help." Hermione said at once and rushed towards the Great Hall.

Nott whimpered as Harry slammed him repeatedly against the wall. He was too scared to even try and fight back. Harry threw Nott away from himself, Nott skidded across the floor.

"Try repeating that!" Harry hissed in anger.

Nott didn't answer, he tried to get up but Harry beat him to it. Raising his hand, Harry levitated Nott into the air. The look on Harry's face was scary. The air around him seemed to crackle with magic. That was when Damien noticed that Harry was not using his wand. He had done everything wandlessly.

At first it seemed that Harry was only lifting Nott into the air but soon everyone realised with a gasp of horror that Harry was choking him. Nott thrashed, suspended in mid air and tried to get away from the invisible force that was holding him around the neck. His fingers scratched and clutched around his own neck, trying to free himself.

Damien heard Ron swear next to him. Nott was going blue in the face but Harry was not letting go of him. Harry's hand was still raised and he didn't look like he was going to free him any time soon. Damien felt his heart plummet into his stomach; Harry was going to kill him! He rushed forward and tried to make Harry stop. He grabbed at Harry's hand, trying to break the contact but he couldn't pull it away.

"Harry, stop it! You're going to kill him! Stop it!" Damien shouted.

Harry didn't even look in his direction. As much as Damien tried he couldn't break the curse that was holding Nott in the air like that.

"Harry, please stop! You're killing him! Stop it!" Damien shouted again, he was panicking now.

Suddenly, Damien felt himself being pushed away. James had arrived and had pushed him out of the way. He saw his dad wrap an arm around Harry's waist while his other hand grabbed at Harry's raised hand.

"Harry, stop!" James shouted.

A few other Professors had come out of the Great Hall; Hermione was standing behind them, looking very pale. They all rushed forward to pull Harry away from Nott.

Finally they managed to pull Harry away. The connection broke and Nott fell to the ground, gasping horribly for breath. Harry struggled to get out of the grips that were on him. His eyes blazed in Nott's direction and he shouted,

"If you ever as much as _mention_ Bella again, I swear to God! I Will Kill You!"

Nott was on the verge of unconsciousness, he had two Professors trying to help him up. Harry shook himself free and turned to face James and the other Professors. The look of fury on his face made everyone take a step back. All but James. He was staring at Harry with anger to match his own. Harry turned around and fled, before any one could say anything.

Harry could hear James shouting behind him to come back but he didn't listen. Damien hurried after him, running at full speed to catch up with him.

"Harry! Wait! Where are you going?"

Harry didn't stop. Damien kept on running behind him, trying to get him to stop.

Before Damien could catch up with him he saw Harry simply turn around and disappear. Damien halted to a stop, completely stunned by what he saw. He knew what Harry had done, but it was impossible to do it whilst inside Hogwarts. He had apparated.

Damien shook his head and ran to the spot Harry had been standing in mere seconds ago. He searched around the spot frantically thinking '_It can't be. It's not possible_'. Hermione had told him numerous times that no one could apparate or dissapparate whilst inside Hogwarts. The wards wouldn't let them.

He heard the sound of hurried footsteps and saw his dad rushing towards him.

"Where is he?" James shouted.

Damien stood in shock. He didn't know what to say. Would his dad believe him if he told him that Harry had apparated? Something told Damien not to say anything about it. It just didn't seem right.

"Damien! Where is he?" James shouted. He really looked angry.

"I…I don't know, dad." Damien stammered. His heart was still racing from seeing Nott like that and he still couldn't believe that Harry had apparated.

James wasn't having any of it though. He strode over to Damien and grabbed him rather harshly.

"Damien! Don't even think about covering for him. Tell me where he went!"

When Damien refused to answer, James dragged him to his room. He had to find out where Harry was. He was in so much trouble.

xxx

"For the last time, dad! I don't know where he went!" Damien shouted in annoyance.

It had been over two hours now since Harry had left Hogwarts and Damien had spent that time in his parents living quarters trying to convince them that he didn't know where Harry had gone. Lily and James were not giving up though. Damien wasn't exactly truthful when it came to Harry. Both parents knew he would outright lie if he thought he was helping his brother.

Nott had been taken to the infirmary. Madame Pomfrey had confirmed that he was fine. There was no lasting damage done to him. He looked a lot worse that what he had actually suffered. There wasn't any bruising or anything to worry about. He was going to be kept in for that day, just to make sure and then let out the next day.

However that didn't mean that Harry was not going to suffer. Professor McGonagall was livid and even Headmaster Dumbledore had looked uncharacteristically angry. Harry was going to be in so much trouble when he came back.

Damien was panicking though. Harry had not come back to Hogwarts yet. A quick look at the Marauders map confirmed he was not in the castle or on Hogwarts grounds. Where was he? And how had he managed to apparate? Damien didn't know why he was keeping that a secret from his parents. He just didn't feel he could tell them. Harry could explain it to them when he came back. '_If he comes back_' a small voice said in his mind. Damien pushed that thought away. Harry wouldn't leave them again. He just wouldn't.

"Damy, are you listening?"

Lily's irate voice snapped Damien back to the present.

"Yes, mum" Damien automatically answered.

"You must have seen which direction he left in." she said in an exasperated voice.

"I told you he just, sort of, disappeared." Damien said quietly.

"I didn't see where he went."

"You're lying" James accused.

"I'm not! I don't know where he is!" Damien replied angrily.

"Tell me the truth!" James thundered.

"He is telling the truth."

The three Potters whipped around to see Harry standing by the door. Damien let out a quiet sigh of relief. He was so glad to see Harry again. He hadn't run away! Almost instantly he felt sorry for Harry. He was in so much trouble now that he was back. Damien couldn't even bear to think about it.

Harry however, didn't look scared at all. He calmly walked inside and closed the door. Damien nervously watched as Harry came further into the room. His eyes were locked with James' and Damien shuddered at the glare James threw Harry's way. Harry however didn't react to the glare. For someone who had grown up with Voldemort, James' glare was nothing to be afraid of.

"Sit down Harry" the quiet command came from Lily.

Harry didn't fight it and sat down on one the chairs. He gave both his parents a tired look, as if to say, 'get it over with'.

"Explain, what the hell you think you were doing!" James asked angrily.

"I thought that was obvious. I was trying to choke the life out of that bastard and I would have if you hadn't stopped me!" Harry said with an icy glare directed at James.

Damien shut his eyes and braced himself for the eruption that James was surely going to have. James stared hard at Harry.

"Of all the things!…I can't believe…I just don't know what to do with you!" James shouted. He was lost for words, which only meant that he was even angrier than before.

"_You_ don't have to do anything." Harry spat.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that, Harry!" James retaliated.

"Dad, please just calm down. It wasn't all Harry's fault. I told you what Nott said about Bella…" Damien tried to say but James snapped at him.

"I don't care what that kid said! There is absolutely no excuse to react that way!" James shouted facing Damien.

"Why are you shouting at him? Talk to me, I'm the one you're mad at!" Harry said standing up angrily.

"Of course I'm mad at you. What did you think I was going to be, pleased? You attacked a fellow student! I don't care what he was saying! There is no justification for acting like you did!" James was so angry he couldn't stop himself even if he tried.

"James, please…" Lily tried to stop him.

"I think I can decide for myself how to act. You can't make that decision for me!" Harry spat back.

"So what? Every time someone makes a comment you don't like you'll hurt them or try to kill them? Is that how you want to act? Like a…" James caught himself just before he said the words.

It was too late though. Everyone in the room knew what James was about to say. Damien felt tears prick the corners of his eyes. Harry moved a step closer, a dangerous look in his eyes.

"Go on, say it! Like a _Death Eater_!" Harry hissed dangerously.

James looked into Harry's eyes, unable to say anything. Lily had enough. She ushered Damien out of the room, instructing him to go to his common room and stay there. Damien left looking at Harry one more time before leaving. He didn't look any calmer.

"Both of you, sit!" she commanded.

Harry and James remained standing, making Lily yell her orders again. Still glaring at each other, both father and son sat down.

"We are going to talk about this in a civil manner." Lily continued taking a seat herself.

James and Harry still remained silent. Lily met James' eyes and gave him a fierce look. James finally let out a sigh in an effort to calm himself.

"Harry, I…"

"You should know I'm not a Death Eater. I wasn't a Death Eater when I was with him, so I doubt I'll become one now!" Harry was still seething with anger. His words were spat out, especially the words 'Death Eater'.

James hung his head. He knew that. He had seen enough of Harry's childhood memories to know that Harry, strange as it was, didn't like being called a Death Eater. That was partly why the name 'Dark Prince' came about. The way Harry saw it he wasn't a mere follower of Voldemort. He was his son. His equal, in a way. The term Death Eater was an insult to him.

"I know, Harry. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that…I'm just…" James dropped his head into his hand. He had really messed up today.

"I didn't know how to react to what happened today. Students have always fought each other, hell I did it too. When I was at Hogwarts we were always fighting with one another. But never, have I seen or heard about such at attack. It was completely uncalled for." James stopped as Harry threw him a glare. Lily took over quickly.

"You have to understand that what you did was not something that will be tolerated. You could have been expelled."

"Like I care." Harry muttered not very quietly.

James continued, ignoring Harry's remark.

"Look, Harry. I know that you had your reasons for what you did, but you can't behave like that. I understand that he provoked you by saying those things about, about Bellatrix…" James stopped as Harry threw him another glare. He stopped himself from getting upset. Harry's glares were too reminiscent of last year and how Harry had hated him.

"…but you can't let what people say affect you like that. You can't lose your temper and control like that." he finished.

Harry looked incredulously at him.

"You've got a nerve saying that!" he said.

"What?" James asked perplexed.

"How can you tell me not to lose my temper and control, after what you did to Blake?" Harry replied, keeping his emerald eyes fixed on his father.

James looked shocked by what Harry said. Harry could see a slight blush forming.

"Well, firstly, I didn't know you knew about that." James replied uncomfortably.

"And secondly, that was completely different." He finished.

Harry looked outraged.

"How was that different?" he asked.

"You are my son. He physically hurt you! I wasn't going to sit back and let him get away with that." James replied.

Harry could see clearly that James' anger had dissipated. He felt his anger ebb away in return, leaving him feeling exhausted.

He let out a sigh and slumped back in his chair.

"You may not agree but both situations are the same. Sometimes words can hurt more than hexes." Harry said a hint of sadness hidden in his voice.

James felt pity surge through him. Now that he had calmed down, he understood why Harry had acted like he did. It still didn't mean it was acceptable though.

"Well how about this; do as I say and not as I do or you will be grounded for so long that you'll never see daylight again." James said, with a smirk.

Harry couldn't help the smile that came at that threat. He looked back up to see James smirking at him.

"Like you could stop me from leaving." he challenged.

"Don't try me." James joked.

Lily let out a silent sigh of relief. She had hated the way both had acted moments ago. Thank Merlin they were back to their normal ways.

There was a knock on the door and before anyone had gotten up, the door opened and Professor McGonagall stepped into the room. Her stern gaze fell on Harry and her mouth thinned even more.

"Mr Potter, glad you decided to join us again." she said sarcastically.

"Please make your way to the Headmaster's office. He would like to have a word."

All three Potters made their way to see Dumbledore.

Although Harry had said it in a moment of anger, he really wished he wasn't going to be expelled. He had just started to enjoy the school. He didn't want to leave it.

xxx

The conversation in Professor Dumbledore's office went just like Harry expected. Dumbledore had said pretty much the same thing that his parents had said. Not to lose your temper and to control your emotions. What Harry was not expecting was Dumbledore's decision to keep Harry at Hogwarts. Since most of the students had reported that Nott had said offensive and derogatory things about someone Harry cared for, and had in essence provoked the attack, Harry was saved from being expelled.

Harry wasn't fooled though. He knew that the Headmaster didn't want to kick out Harry from Hogwarts. Dumbledore had worked hard to make Harry look like a hero to the Wizarding world. It would not do well to show the world that Harry was capable of killing someone if he got angry enough.

Harry really couldn't be bothered with all of this. He desperately wanted his bed and his sleep.

"Just tell me what my punishment is." Harry asked in a bored voice.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled in their usual annoying way.

"I'm afraid that is not my decision. That is in the hands of your Head of House." he gestured towards McGonagall.

Professor McGonagall had been talking quietly with James and Lily in one corner of the room. She turned to look at Harry strictly.

Harry turned to face her, bored with the stern look she was giving him.

"So what will it be, Detention? House points? Cleaning out the toilets or something stupid like that?" Harry smirked as she changed glances with James and Lily.

All three suddenly broke out in smirks, making Harry feel very uncomfortable.

"Oh no, Mr Potter. You proved last year that you're not affected by these types of punishments. No, your reprimand is something very unique." McGonagall didn't look good smirking at all.

"Throw anything my way, I can handle it." Harry retorted.

"Indeed." She replied.

"Your parents have been kind enough to suggest what they think will be the best punishment for you and I must say, I agree." She continued.

Harry threw a disgruntled look their way.

"You will serve one week worth of detention."

Harry looked at her in surprise.

"That's it!" he asked, smiling at the _terrible_ punishment.

"That's not all." McGonagall continued.

"You will serve your detention with Professor June and the Aurors…" She smiled as the grin slipped of Harry's face.

"…in the Duelling Club!" she finished.

"What!" Harry asked, horrified.

"Well, since you can't refrain yourself from duelling, we thought it would be a productive way for you to let out all your duelling energy, by being an assistant to the Aurors." McGonagall explained happily.

Harry stared at her in complete shock.

"No! No way!" he exclaimed.

"That is your punishment and you will serve it. You really don't want me to extend your detention to two weeks, do you?" she asked.

"You wouldn't!" Harry said horrified at the thought.

"Don't tempt me."

With that Professor McGonagall took her leave, followed by the grinning James and Lily.

Harry turned around to face an amused looking Dumbledore.

"And you call me evil" Harry muttered before heading out of the office.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Let me know what you think. Please review!


	11. The Duelling Club

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks to all those who reviewed. So sorry for not updating in so long. Kids were driving me crazy!! Hope you like the chapter. Enjoy!!

**Chapter Eleven**

Harry watched through narrowed eyes as the Great Hall filled with excited looking students. He still couldn't believe he was doing this. He looked towards the stage and saw Professor June along with the four Aurors, watching the eager students flow into the Hall.

He noticed that the Hall was filled with more students than last year. It seemed that the whole school had showed up! 'Of course, they all want to come and watch me get humiliated!' Harry thought to himself. He had blushed so hard when Professor Dumbledore had announced to the whole school that Harry was going to be helping the Aurors in the Duelling Club. Everyone had turned in their seats to look at him. Damn, he hated it when they did that!

Harry looked over at the main doors again and caught sight of his dad, making his way into the hall. In a flash, Harry was standing before him, blocking him from coming inside.

"Evening, Duelling Assistant!" James greeted with an annoying smile.

"Dad" Harry responded dryly.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Well, I couldn't miss the opportunity to see you, _teaching_" James purposefully stretched out the last word.

Harry went a little red but kept his eyes fixed on his father before answering.

"I'm sorry then that you won't get the chance."

James' smile slipped of his face and he looked at Harry in confusion.

"What are you talking about? You have to help the Aurors. That is your detention, you don't want to anger McGonagall, trust me" James told him.

"Oh, I don't intend to. I will serve my detention, but you don't get to watch." Harry answered with a smirk firmly in place. It was bad enough that his parents had suggested this awful punishment; he wasn't going to give them the enjoyment of watching!

James looked blankly at his son before shaking his head.

"You can't do that! It's not your decision." he said indignantly.

Harry folded his arms across his chest and gave James a look that clearly said, 'don't try me!'

James saw one of the Aurors walk past them. He recognised him as Liam Ferguson. James called out to him.

"Ferguson! Tell Harry he can't refuse me entry!" James shouted.

The young Auror turned around to look at them. At Harry's trademark glare, Ferguson's face paled considerably.

"I would, but every time he looks at me like that, I go all cold inside!" the young Auror responded before quickly scampering off.

Harry faced his dad again and gave him a triumphant smile. James glared at the Auror's fleeting back before shouting out 'coward' to him. Harry flicked his hand, closing the doors in James' face.

He turned around to face the hall and felt his momentarily happiness slip away. The students were all staring at him, along with the Aurors. Harry saw Tonks trying to hide her smirk, but failing miserably. As soon as Harry had faced the hall, Professor June had taken the stage.

"Welcome, Students! It really is a pleasure to have so many of you attending the club. I suppose we have the Aurors to thank for that." Here Professor June looked directly at Harry. It was blatantly obvious that most of the school had showed up because of Harry and not the Aurors.

At Harry's scowl she continued,

"They have many lessons planned but for today, I would like everyone to practise many of the basic spells. It would be ideal since today is the first lesson."

Harry had already stepped into the shadows, hoping that he wouldn't be mentioned. He figured he could just scare anyone who made the mistake of asking his help. Unfortunately, this was not to be.

"We also have a special helper with us today. Mr Harry Potter was kind enough to help out with the Aurors. He will be assisting them today."

All the heads turned to look at him. Harry just looked at all of them blankly. He spotted the grinning faces of Damien and Ron. Tonks took over from Professor June and Harry heard his name being called up for a demonstration.

With a deep sigh of frustration Harry headed up to the stage.

"Kill me, just kill me now." He muttered as he took the stage.

xxx

Damien was loving this. Harry looked a right picture, trying to restrain himself and not lash out at the Auror who was performing the demonstration. Harry's wand flew to the Auror's hand for the third time. Harry didn't look amused at all. Damien could clearly see that Harry was just itching to retaliate, to actually try and resist the attack, but he was told to just stand there, like an idiot and let the disarming spell hit its target. Damien knew himself that there was no point in that. No attacker was just going to stand there and let you disarm him. But Auror Green wanted to show how the spell reacted and the effect it had on the wand.

Green held up his wand to the hall before explaining the common mistakes people made.

"Always ensure that you are holding your wand firmly. Many make the mistake of holding their wand loosely and therefore don't manage to stop the attacker from disarming them. Keep a firm grip on your wand."

Harry threw the Auror a very disgruntled look.

"One would think that would be common sense." Harry said loudly. The Auror's face reddened but he didn't say anything. He continued with his speech, ignoring Harry.

Damien and Ron were in silent fits of laughter as Harry's grew more annoyed and irritated by the second. Even Hermione and Ginny couldn't stop smiling at Harry's expression.

"Oh man, this is a moment to capture. I wish I had my camera. Where's Colin when you need him?" Damien said with tears of laughter in his eyes.

Hermione looked around her trying to spot her fellow Gryffindor.

"That's strange." she muttered to herself.

"What's strange?" Ginny asked.

"You would think that Colin would be here with the rest of Gryffindor but I can't see him or Dennis anywhere." She scanned the hall again to see if she could see either of the Creevey brothers.

"They'll be here somewhere. You can't make them out because there are so many people here!" Ginny said after scanning the room as well.

Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment but got distracted as the Auror started asking everyone to form groups of ten. The Aurors and Harry were going to take one group each and go through the correct way to grip your wand. She caught the look on Harry's face and truly felt sorry for her friend. This _really_ was a punishment for him.

xxx

"Try aiming it at me, you might succeed!" Harry snapped at the third year Hufflepuff.

The nervous looking boy shakily aimed his wand at Harry, but the poor boy was trembling so hard that the wand shook in his hand. Harry forced out his breath slowly, in a vain attempt to calm himself. He couldn't understand how he was supposed to help someone who couldn't even hold his wand steady.

Everyone was practising the disarming spell. Simple, but some students were having trouble so Harry had been told to help them. This was one particular student.

"Just hold the wand steady! Why are you shaking?" Harry snapped at him again.

The boy let out a squeak before dropping his wand. He hastily swooped down to pick it up. Harry looked up at the ceiling in annoyance and muttered a few choice words to himself.

The third year that went by the name, George Sutherland, aimed his wand at Harry and tried to steel himself. Harry was asking him to aim at him and perform the disarming hex. It would be a lot easier to concentrate on that particular hex if Harry wasn't looking at him murderously.

"Could…c-could you n-not look at me like t-that." he squeaked out.

Harry only glared at him harder, making the boy take a step back.

"Just say the hex!" Harry hissed at him.

George was so intimidated by Harry that he couldn't take aim. His spell shot out of his wand and went in the opposite direction to Harry. It hit one of the windows. Harry looked angrily over at the Hufflepuff.

"You know what you should do? Try aiming at that window, maybe you might hit me instead!"

"Um Harry! A word please." Professor June called out to him.

Harry closed his eyes, unclenched his fists and went over to her.

"Mr Potter, you have to be patient. You can't teach someone by being angry with them." she explained.

Harry glared at her as well.

"You can't teach them at all! Its hopeless." He shot back.

Professor June smiled back at him.

"I think the problem you're experiencing is more due to the fact that most students would hesitate to hex _you_. Even if it is only a practise duel."

Harry kept the scowl fixed on his face but did feel a bit better. 'They should be scared of me' he thought with satisfaction.

Professor June left to go to and assist a six year student. Harry stood watching the hall and the mass of students fire the disarming spells. Harry could tell that he wasn't the only one who was having an awful time. Most of the students were looking disappointed that they were going through such basic work. They all expected something more exciting since these were Aurors teaching them.

He spotted George looking at him. As soon as Harry met his eyes, George straightened up right and held out his wand before him, a determined look on his face. He shouted out the spell aiming at Harry. Even before the spell shot out of his wand, Harry knew the spell wasn't going to hit its target. The spell zoomed to his right and hit the stone wall.

Harry sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose warding off the headache that was building behind his eyes.

"How's it going?"

Harry opened his eyes to see Damien standing before him, a wide smile on his face.

"The vein in my head is about to pop!" Harry replied exasperated.

"Okay" Damien said while grabbing Harry from his arm and pulling him into a corner.

"I think you should call it a day. I don't think Professor McGonagall will appreciate it if you kill a student. Especially since this punishment was because you tried to kill one." Damien said with a quiet chuckle.

"You seem to be enjoying this a bit too much." Harry said to Damien.

Damien threw Harry a cheeky grin before going back to Hermione. Luckily, Harry didn't have to go back to George since Tonks announced the end of the duelling session for that day. The hall emptied except for the Aurors and Harry.

Ron gestured to Harry that they would wait for him outside. Harry waited until Tonks had come down from the stage before erupting.

"What the hell was that? You call that a duelling session? It was a waste of time! You spent the whole session on 'How to hold your Wand' I mean come on! Who doesn't know how to hold a wand? And then going through the disarming spell? I learned that when I was eight! This whole session was pathetic!"

Tonks waited until Harry had finished his rant.

"Finished?" she asked cheekily.

At Harry's glare she continued.

"We had to start off slow. It's a good thing we did since most of the third years couldn't even manage such a simple spell. We have to build up gradually." She explained.

"Well you might want to pick up the pace a little." Harry responded.

Tonks reassured him that it would. Harry left as quickly as he could after that. He needed a hot shower to get this terrible day off him. He found Damien and the rest of his group waiting outside for him.

"Don't say anything. I don't want to talk about this awful day, ever!" he warned as Ron and Damien stifled their smirks.

They walked in silence, Ginny walking next to Harry.

"You did look a picture up on that stage!" Damien blurted out.

"Damy" Harry warned.

"Well, you did. And then your expression when Green explained 'how to grip your wand firmly but not too firmly' was priceless." Damien was laughing whole heartedly by now and Ron and Hermione were also joining in.

"So you honestly think that was a good duelling session?" Harry asked outraged.

"Hell, no! That was bloody awful. But your reactions made it all worth it." Ron laughed.

"I'm glad I amuse you all so much." Harry responded dryly.

They all laughed and even Harry felt his tension ebb away. He shouldn't be all that surprised. This was Hogwarts after all and when the Ministry joined in, it was obvious their teaching curriculum was going to be abysmal.

The group had reached the main hallway and were making their way towards the stairs.

"I just hope they do something worthwhile while I'm there. I don't think I'll survive another session on 'how to hold your wand' and 'how to aim'. If I am to help the Aurors they have to at least teach something decent." said Harry.

"I never thought I would see the day when you would help an Auror." A voice stopped the group before they could start climbing the stairs.

All, except Harry, turned around to see who had spoken. Harry let a smile spread across his face. He didn't need to turn around and see who it was. He could recognise that voice anywhere.

"And I never thought I would hear your sullen tone in Hogwarts again." Harry said as he slowly turned around.

A figure stepped out from the shadows, his usual smirk firmly in place.

"In all fairness, Harry, I was here first."

Draco Malfoy stepped out into the lit hallway and let his grey eyes study his friend. He looked well, a little tired maybe but well.

"Malfoy!" Damien exclaimed in shock.

Draco looked over at Damien and the rest of the Gryffindors.

"Potty, Weasels" he said in form of a greeting. He point blank ignored Hermione.

Harry had stepped away from his brother and friends and went over to his best friend. Both boys stood facing each other, grinning like mad but not saying anything.

"I thought you weren't coming back." Harry asked at last.

Draco shrugged his shoulders.

"I wasn't planning on it but there are some legal problems with Malfoy Manor. Mother had to come back to sort it out. She figured I could come back as well. She's with Dumbledore right now, sorting out when I should come back to finish seventh year."

Damien heard Ron groan next to him. Not having Malfoy at Hogwarts was like a dream come true. Now the Slytherin was back and that could only mean trouble.

"You want to go outside and talk." Malfoy asked Harry.

Harry left with Draco without as much as a backward glance at the group behind him.

"Well that was rude" Hermione huffed.

The rest silently agreed.

xxx

"So what's this I hear about you helping Aurors? Did hell freeze over?" Draco asked.

Harry couldn't help grin back. Both boys were sitting on the stone steps leading up to the main doors.

"It's McGonagall. She cooked up this evil detention for me." Harry explained.

"What did you do?" Draco asked.

Harry thought about telling him but then changed his mind. He didn't think Draco needed to hear about it. Plus, Harry didn't think he could repeat what Nott said anyway.

"So why are you really here?" Harry asked, changing the topic.

"Like I said, legal stuff." Draco answered.

"Like what?" Harry asked.

Draco went quiet for a moment, figuring out what to say.

"The Ministry's took over the Manor and frozen all our money. They're doing that to try and get to father. Problem is that Malfoy Manor was originally put into mother's name. How it got changed back, no one knows. Even some of the money is mothers but the Ministry has ordered it frozen. Mother's trying to sort it all out. It should all be resolved soon."

Harry thought whether or not he should ask the next question. He decided to go ahead. He was curious himself.

"Have you heard from him?

Draco looked up at Harry before diverting his gaze away. He shook his head. Draco knew Harry was referring to Lucius Malfoy.

"You know it's so weird. When he was with mother, all they did was fight. I was actually a little relieved when we left him. I figured that at least she would be happy now."

Harry watched as Draco's tone deepened and the bitterness he was feeling laced his words.

"But now, after everything, she…she's missing him. Can you believe that? I mean she told him how much she hated him to his face but now that he's gone, she says she loves him. How ridiculous is that! I told her that she has no right to say she loves him or that she is missing him."

Harry watched his best friend carefully.

"And you don't?" he asked.

Draco looked at Harry confused.

"What?"

"Miss him" Harry asked.

Draco looked like he was going to deny it at first but then the hard look in his eyes faded away. He dropped his head and ran a hand through his blond hair.

"I know that it's stupid. I know without a doubt what kind of father he was. I know that if the time came, he would stand back and let me suffer, maybe even kill me if he was ordered to, but…I still can't stop missing him. I mean, how can I care for someone who never cared for me. It's stupid, right?"

"Yeah, right" Harry answered in a quiet voice.

Draco looked over at Harry, wishing he had not just said all that. If anyone could understand how he felt it was Harry. Draco knew that Harry still felt some kind of love for Voldemort. Even after everything that had happened. Draco had been there all those years, when Harry had called Voldemort father. He had seen the extent of Harry's loyalty to him. All of that doesn't just disappear. Draco knew just by looking at Harry that he was suffering, just like he was, without his father.

"So, how's Dumbledore treating you? Still annoying the hell out of you?" Draco asked, hoping to distract Harry.

It seemed to work. Harry looked up at Draco; a fierce look replaced the despair in his eyes.

"He gets worse everyday." Harry answered.

"That sounds like Dumbledore." Draco answered, smiling at the memory of his Headmaster.

xxx

"I can't believe he threw me out! I never thought he would do that." James exclaimed as Lily curled up on her sofa, a mug of hot chocolate in her hands.

"Well, you did have it coming." She said, enjoying her husband's reaction.

"Next time, I'm going to go into the hall before him. He can't chuck me out then, can he?" James plotted.

Lily laughed at her husband's scheming.

"James I needed to talk to you about something. It's important." Lily started. Lily had yet to talk to him about what had happened with Poppy.

James looked at Lily with curiosity.

"What's wrong Lily? That last time you said we had something important to talk about you told me you were pregnant" James' eyes suddenly widened with that thought and he looked at her with shock.

"Are you…?"

"No" Lily curtly answered.

"Oh, got to say I'm relieved. I don't think I can handle anymore offspring." James said, collapsing opposite his wife.

Lily glared at James but decided not to say anything more on that topic. She had already wasted enough time. She should have told James about Harry's sleeping problems long before now. Without anymore hesitation she told James about what Poppy had told her. How she had found the bottles of Dreamless Sleeping potion in his room and what Poppy had said about him coming to see her.

James sat in silence as Lily finished. He didn't look as concerned as Lily thought he would.

"James, I think we should talk to Harry about this. We need him to open up." Lily said after a few minutes silence.

James looked up at her.

"How do you think that conversation will go? I'll tell you. We'll ask him if he's okay and he'll respond with 'I'm fine!' then we'll push him to talk and he'll get upset with us and then go in a bad mood where he won't talk to us for days."

Lily stared at James with annoyance.

"So what do you think we should do?" she asked.

"We do nothing." James responded.

Lily stared at him wide eyed.

"We do nothing? James did you understand what I said? Harry's having sleeping problems! He has to take sleeping potions to help him sleep at night. That's not normal! We have to figure out what's bothering him?"

James let out a sigh.

"I know what's bothering him. It's obvious Lily. You know as well, you just don't want to admit it." James said in a defeated voice.

Lily did know. She knew the moment she saw the Dreamless Sleeping potions in Harry's room. She knew that nothing would bother Harry to the point of having nightmares. There was only one plausible explanation. Voldemort. Harry was suffering because of what happened to Voldemort.

Lily put down her cup and looked directly at James.

"You don't think we should talk to him about, about Voldemort"

James couldn't help the shudder that ran down his spine.

"I already told you, it's not going to be of any help. Harry won't talk to us about it" James replied.

"So what do you think we should do?" Lily was adamant about this.

"Look, Lily. Harry isn't like Damien. We can't sit him down and talk to him and expect him to open up. . He needs to sort out his feelings on his own. It's the only way he'll heal. He's not a kid; he hates being treated like one. I know how you feel. I feel the same. I want to help him but if I've learned anything from last year, it's that Harry is a very private person. I don't want him to feel suffocated with attention." James explained.

Lily didn't look very happy but knew that some of what James was saying was right.

"I still think we should tell him that we're here. If he needs us, we're here." Lily said sadly.

"I hate that he doesn't come to us. He'll go to Poppy but he won't come to me. I'm his mother and he treats me like a stranger." Lily added.

James came over and embraced his wife.

"Give him time, Lily. He'll come to us. Once Harry fits in a little better he'll see that we're here for him. Just give him the space he needs." James advised.

Lily nodded her head, still not feeling particularly comforted.

"By the way, what where you doing in Harry's room?" James asked.

"I went to see why he blew me off the night before." Lily answered.

Suddenly a memory made its way to her. She sat up and looked at James.

"Actually I have something else important to talk to you about." She said.

"When I went into Harry's room, he wasn't alone." She started.

"He was with Ginny. They were both, well, they were both on the bed." Lily said, blushing herself at the memory.

James looked at her blankly.

"So?" he asked.

"Kids are always sitting on each others beds. What's the big deal?" he asked.

"I didn't say they were sitting." Lily said with a meaningful look on her face.

James' face immediately heated up as understanding hit home.

"Oh! You mean they were…oh, right."

Lily didn't know James could blush so hard.

"I didn't know that Harry was seeing her." He added.

"What, um, what were they…I mean were they…"

"No! I mean I don't think they've…they better not have…" Lily took a deep breath to calm herself.

"They were kissing when I went in." she explained.

James' expression relaxed.

"Oh, okay, well that's not so bad." James had visibly relaxed.

"You have to talk to him about this." Lily said determinedly.

James looked at her with surprise.

"What have we just been discussing?" he asked incredulously

xxx

Everyone had gone to bed by the time Harry came back to the common room. He walked in to find the common room empty, or so he thought at first glance.

"Well, you both had a lot of catching up to do."

Harry looked over at Damien who was curled up with a blanket on the chair.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Harry asked.

"I couldn't sleep until I saw you." his younger brother replied.

With a wave of his hand, Harry reignited the fire and sat down next to Damien.

"When is he coming back to classes?" Damien asked.

"After Christmas break. There's only two weeks left of this semester so it makes sense to wait for the second semester" Harry explained.

Damien nodded his head. He had wanted to talk to Harry about this for a few days now, but Harry was in such a foul mood regarding his detention that Damien had decided to wait. After seeing Draco, Harry seemed to be in a good mood.

"I wanted to ask you something." Damien started.

At Harry's nod he continued.

"I saw you, that day with Nott…"

"As did the rest of Hogwarts." Harry interjected.

Damien shot him a look that said 'shut up'.

"I saw you disapparate." Damien said quickly.

Harry's expression changed to slightly more serious.

"I know that you can't apparate or disapparate whilst inside Hogwarts and yet I saw you with my own eyes." Damien said in confusion.

"How did you do it?" Damien asked, coming to the point.

Harry looked at him intently.

"I don't know" Harry said honestly.

"It was like that day when I found out about Bella. I just wanted to leave Hogwarts and I did. It was just the same, I didn't want to be in Hogwarts and found that the wards couldn't hold me in. I broke past them." Harry said.

Damien seemed satisfied with that answer. He had figured as much. Harry was a powerful wizard. That fateful day in Hogsmeade had showed everyone what Harry was capable of doing. Harry didn't even need a wand anymore. He just carried it around with him as a force of habit.

"Did mum and dad freak out when you told them?" Harry asked.

Damien shook his head.

"I didn't tell them." he explained.

At Harry's questioning look he explained.

"I didn't want to say anything before I talked to you. In any case it's not my place to say anything. It's something you can do. You should be the one to decide if anyone should know about it or not."

Harry looked at his younger brother with pride. It was times like this that Harry thanked the Gods that Damien was his brother. He always put Harry first.

"Thanks" Harry said.

"Where did you go that day? You took a while to come back." Damien didn't tell Harry that he feared Harry wasn't going to come back at all.

Harry took his time answering.

"I went to see Bella."

Damien cursed himself. 'That should have been obvious, you genius' he thought to himself.

"Oh, is she buried in Spain?" Damien asked without being able to stop himself. He found it weird that Harry would apparate all the way to Spain.

"No" Harry simply answered.

Damien didn't push Harry. If he wanted to elaborate he would do so himself.

"She's in Cornwall." Harry said after a few moments.

"Why is she buried there?" Damien asked curiously.

"She used to live there. She's buried next to her husband" Harry's eyes flickered with sorrow.

Damien was taken aback by surprise.

"I didn't know she was a widow. I'm sorry." Damien said at once.

"Were, were you close with him?" Damien asked. Given that he was so close with Bella, he must have been close with her husband too.

Harry had a distant look in his eyes, as if he was bringing back long forgotten memories.

"Rodolphus died eight years ago" Harry answered, his tone a lot harder.

Damien knew just by Harry's different tone that it was a painful subject. Still he couldn't help but ask the next question.

"What happened?"

Harry looked directly over at him, emerald eyes blazing.

"He was killed by Aurors."

xxx

As Damien crept into his bed later on that night, he couldn't help but feel angry on his brother's behalf. Maybe this detention was much crueler than anyone had imagined, working alongside Aurors. He imagined what it would feel like if he had to work alongside Death Eaters.

Damien considered that he still wouldn't know what it would feel like. He had never lost anyone close to him by the hands of a Death Eater. But Harry had lost Rodolphus at the hands of an Auror.

As Damien shifted in his bed uncomfortably he made himself promise that he wouldn't make fun of Harry at the Duel Club. Harry still considered the Aurors, save for his dad and Godfathers, as his enemy. He didn't trust them and now Damien fully understood why. He understood now how hard Harry was trying, just to be in the same room as the Aurors and act somewhat civil towards them. Harry had a lot more patience than he let on.

Damien hoped that the detention passed quickly for Harry and that his brother didn't suffer too much.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Just a quick note to say: Don't worry this story does have a plot. Please hang in there and I promise that the Great Evil will rear it's head very soon. I know I said a few chapters back that the villian will come soon, but I judged it wrong. I promise the villian will come soon, very soon. Please Review!


	12. The Ball

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks so much for all your reviews. I managed this chapter so I thought I would give you a fast update, seeing that I made you all wait so much last time. Enjoy!!

**Chapter Twelve**

Damien couldn't believe it. He had only received one invitation to the Christmas ball last year but this year he had received six. Six invitations! It was unbelievable. He sat rereading all his invitations while Professor Binns went on and on with his lecture, unaware that most of his class were paying more attention to the invitations they had received that morning.

Damien had to resist the urge to laugh out loud as he recalled Harry's reaction this morning. He had literally had a storm of owls fighting each other to try and deliver their invitations first. Last year Harry had received around twenty invitations. That itself was a record breaker but this year, Harry had received so many invitations it was impossible to count! As soon as Harry had sat down, a storm of owls flew in and headed straight for Harry. He had to duck in order to save himself from being engulfed by mad owls, trying to get to him. The Great Hall watched in amazement as over sixty owls fought to get to him.

In the end Harry had yelled out to the owls and told all of them to go back and that he wasn't going to accept any of their letters. The owls had hooted in annoyance at him and took off, still fighting one another to get out of the hall first.

Damien smirked to himself. He wasn't going to let Harry live that one down any time soon. Harry was in a bad mood though because he had realised that he would be helping the Duel club for the next four weeks, since his detention was a week's worth but the Duelling club only ran once a week. Maybe it wasn't the best time to annoy him.

As soon as class had ended, Damien made his way out of class. He was still caught up in a daze as to how many invites he had gotten. He knew that he was a rather good looking boy, with his soft hazel eyes and dark locks but even then, six invites was rather a lot. He figured that he was getting more attention than usual since his training with Harry had helped develop his physique as well. He was no way as toned as Harry was but he was on his way. Still, he wasn't ignorant to the fact that many girls had only asked him out since he was Harry Potter's brother. He had become more attractive to girls since Harry came to Hogwarts. He had actually heard Emma Rose whisper to her friend as he walked by her in Herbology 'God, he's starting to look very much like Harry, isn't he? Shame he's missing is the 'Devil-may-care attitude' Still, I would give my wand holding arm to be with him if he grows up to look like Harry.' They had burst into giggles after that. Damien had hurried as far away as possible from the two giggling girls.

He walked into the Great Hall for Lunch and caught sight of Harry sitting with Ginny, Ron and Hermione. Damien wondered if Ron had plucked up the courage to finally ask Hermione out or not. He swore that if the two idiots hadn't asked each other out yet, then he would ask for them. It was starting to get really annoying now that the two hadn't confronted each other about their feelings.

Damien joined his brother at the table. As soon as he sat down he saw Lavender and Parvati get up and head towards them. Damien knew what they were going to say even before they arrived at the table. They were coming to ask Harry to the Ball. Sure enough as the two giggling girls approached the table they set their eyes on Harry and pretty much ignored the others.

"Hiya Harry!" they said in unison.

Harry as usual, ignored them. Even at that, the two girls pushed forward with their question.

"Have you decided who you're going with to the Christmas Ball yet, Harry?"

Harry looked up from his food at Lavender. His emerald gaze studied the two girls.

Next to him Ginny tried not to look too smug. 'This is it' she thought excitedly. Finally, Harry was going to tell them that he was going with her, that she was in fact his girlfriend. That would hopefully make other girls back off. It felt rather satisfying that the two girls who had laughed at the very idea of Harry dating Ginny were going to be told otherwise. Ginny waited for Harry to answer them.

"I haven't decided yet."

Ginny slowly looked around at Harry. At first she thought she had misheard. That couldn't possibly be the response Harry had given, was it?

But as Ginny watched, Harry continued to smirk at them. Lavender and Parvati both looked like they had inherited a great fortune. The flirted like crazy with Harry, making Ginny go red with suppressed anger. What was worse was Harry's reaction. He didn't respond to their flirting, not that Ginny thought he would but he didn't blow them off either. He kept giving them bored looks and answering their questions with one worded answers. That only made the two Gryffindors more excited.

They finally left, almost pleading Harry to take them to the Ball. As soon as they left Harry saw Damien, Ron and Hermione looking at him, annoyed expressions on their faces.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"What the hell, Harry? Why didn't you tell them you were going with Ginny?" Damien asked, immensely annoyed on his friend behalf.

"Because I'm not." Harry answered.

Ginny felt the iron grip on her temper weaken.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked.

"Well, I haven't decided whether I'm going yet. It'll be hard to take Ginny if I'm not going myself." Harry answered.

Ginny relaxed. So Harry wasn't thinking about taking anyone else. He just wasn't sure about going to the Ball himself. She tried to make her hands stop shaking. He really had her going there.

Harry turned around to look at Ginny. Just by the glint in his eyes, Ginny knew he had freaked her out on purpose.

"What do you think?" he asked, faking innocence.

Ginny looked at him blankly. Two could also play this game.

"What?" she asked in a carefree voice.

"Do you think this Ball's worth's going to?" Harry asked playfully.

Ginny shrugged her shoulders.

"It depends."

"On what?" Harry asked.

"Whether you can dance or not." Ginny answered a smirk on her face.

Harry didn't ask anymore questions. He didn't mention the Ball again throughout lunch. After he left, Ginny tried to shake away the hurt she had felt. Maybe Harry was just being playful. Maybe he was just trying to annoy her but she couldn't help but feel slightly hurt. Harry had not acknowledged their relationship. This was a perfect opportunity but Harry had not taken it.

Ginny wasn't needy. She didn't ask for Harry to do anything that he wasn't comfortable with, but it was hurtful that Harry still didn't feel comfortable enough to publicly show that he was with her.

Ginny sighed as she sat down for her Charms class. She wondered how much longer she would have to wait before Harry would treat her like a proper girlfriend.

xxx

Damien sat in the common room, mentally cringing as Ron feebly tried to ask Hermione to the Ball. Ron didn't know that Damien and Ginny were listening in to their conversation. He was sitting with Hermione in their usual spot. The common room was surprisingly empty which is why, Damien had taken Ron to one corner and pep talked him into finally asking Hermione out. However, from the way things were going, Damien was starting to regret it.

"He's not doing so well, is he?" Ginny whispered as they watched discreetly from the table. They were pretending they were doing their homework, when in fact they were busy eavesdropping on the awkward pair.

"No, he's awful!" Damien commented as Ron stuttered over his words.

"Easy, Mr Smooth, You're not any better." Ginny mocked.

Damien blushed as the memory of the previous evening resurfaced.

He had been walking back from his Defence against the Dark Arts class when he was stopped by a pretty girl. Damien knew the dark haired girl as Meno Harvey, a third year Ravenclaw. She was just as pretty as her older sister, Samantha. Damien had fancied Samantha since last year but wouldn't dare ask her out. Other than the fact that she already had about a dozen boys competing for her attention, she was three years older than him. Meno had stopped Damien and shyly asked him to the Ball. Damien had just looked at her blankly for a few minutes. He had thought that Meno would no doubt get the same kind of attention her sister got. Then why was she asking him out?

Meno's dark eyes studied Damien carefully. She tucked a strand of her ebony hair behind her ear smiling shyly at him.

"You're probably going with someone else." she had said to break the awkward silence.

Damien shook his head, trying to get his numbed tongue into action so he could respond.

"I…um…that would be…I mean...yeah, cool." He had managed to stutter out.

Meno's face brightened at his acceptance and left looking very happy. Damien had turned around to spot Ginny looking at him, a smirk playing across her lips at the sight of him.

Damien had spent the rest of that afternoon, dazedly wondering why such a pretty girl had asked him out.

"It's because you're cute, silly." Hermione had told him.

Damien pulled a face in disgust.

"Cute! A puppy is cute, Hermione."

Hermione giggled at his comment.

"Okay, it's because you're a sexy hunk who every girl is dying to go out with!" she revised.

"No, that's my brother." Damien corrected.

Hermione laughed hard at that.

Damien snapped back to the present and saw that Ron had still not managed to ask her. Just as Ron started to stutter at her again, Hermione threw down her book in annoyance.

"Oh, for goodness sake, Ronald! It's not hard! Just ask me to go with you to the Christmas Ball! Go on, ask!" she shouted.

Ron looked a little blind sighted at her outburst but obeyed quickly. With a new determined look on his face he stood up and looked intently at her.

"Hermione, I want you to go to the Christmas Ball with me!" he said in a somewhat strong voice.

Hermione looked at him with a scowl.

"No" she responded.

"What?" Ron exclaimed.

"You just said to ask you to go to the Ball!" he said, looking very red.

Hermione stood up to face him.

"Exactly! Ask me! Don't tell me to go to the Ball with you." her bushy hair seemed to stand on end as she stood glaring at Ron.

Damien and Ginny both were holding their breath watching the scene unfold before them.

Ron suddenly looked at Hermione differently. He leaned over and captured her lips in a kiss. Ginny let out a small 'oh' of surprise and Damien sat motionlessly, unable to believe what Ron had just done.

Ron pulled away from the kiss and looked at Hermione's shocked but contented looking face.

"Hermione, please come to the Christmas Ball with me?" he whispered.

Hermione smiled and kissed Ron deeply.

"Okay" she whispered as she pulled back.

"I'm going to be sick." Ginny whispered to Damien, at the sight of her brother kissing.

"So why are you still looking at them?" Damien asked.

"Can't help it. It's just so romantic." Ginny said, looking both grossed out and blissfully happy.

"Both Ron and Hermione sat back down and started whispering happily to each other.

"Well, at least that's in the open now." Damien said turning back to his work.

He stopped as Ginny had a strange look on her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing" she lied.

"Ginny?" Damien gave his friend a concerned look.

"Really, it's nothing. I was just thinking, when will your brother gross you out by kissing me, in the common room."

xxx

There were only three days left to the Christmas ball and everyone was in frenzy about what they were going to wear. It was like this every year. The Hogsmeade trip always came about a week before the Ball, so by that time, everyone was already panicked.

Harry fought to hide his disgust as Lily held up the dress robes she had bought from Hogsmeade for him.

"Don't you like it?" she asked as she held up dress robes which were a deep red colour.

"No" Harry said with a look of revulsion.

"But these were the nicest ones there. I got Damien the same ones."

"Another good point for me _**not**_ to wear these ones then." Harry commented.

Lily threw him a disappointed look.

"What are you going to wear then?" she asked.

"Don't worry mum, I've got my own wardrobe sorted." Harry said calmly as he sat down on the sofa.

Harry had decided to spend some quality time with his mum as he had promised he would. James was busy with the Aurors catching up on what was happening at the Ministry while Damien was busy with Ron and Ginny. Harry had decided to spend this time with his mum. She would have been bored otherwise.

"So, have you decided who you are going with?" Lily said as she took the seat next to him.

Harry nodded his head. That was the only answer he was going to give. Lily smiled mischievously as she caught his eye.

"Let me guess. Ginny Weasley?"

Harry looked at her blankly.

"So you two are going out. That's nice." Lily commented.

She knew that James would never talk to Harry about this. This was another thing left on her shoulders.

"So, how are things going between you two?" She asked

Harry looked up at Lily.

"Honestly, am I _going_ to talk to you about this?" Harry asked a smirk on his face.

"Well, I just thought…"

"It was a rhetorical question." Harry cut her off. He was finding it hard to stop smiling at his mum's lame attempt to talk to him about Ginny.

Lily smiled, embarrassed as well.

"Well, I just hope you know what you're doing." she said with a sigh.

Harry cocked his head to one side, a questioning look on his face.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Red heads are a handful." Lily said without looking at him.

"Ask your father, he'll tell you!" she added.

Harry chuckled quietly at that. If anything, the simple laugh from Harry encouraged Lily to talk to him further.

"I only hope you're better at dating than your father."

"He couldn't have been that bad" Harry said relaxing further into the sofa.

"You don't want to know! He said the most bizarre and silly things on our dates. I guess it was because he was nervous. I refused to go out with him for so long and then I gave in and told him he could have one date. Just the one. It all spiralled out of control after that." Lily said a look on her face that showed she was racing through her memories.

Harry shifted on the sofa so that he was half sitting and half lying down. His feet were still on the ground though.

"You can put your feet up if you like." Lily said.

"No, I'm fine." Harry answered.

Lily swallowed the disappointment. Harry still couldn't relax fully while in her company. It made her feel all that more distant from him. She didn't say anything though. Harry was making an effort to just come and spend some time with her. That was enough for now. Lily continued to make small talk with Harry.

"I don't know if you know or not, but your dad and I are going to the Ball as well."

"Great! That should be loads of fun." Harry remarked sarcastically.

"It won't be that much fun, we have to chaperone the dance." Lily said disdainfully.

Harry laughed at his mum's annoyed expression.

"It's probably for the best. Your dad's not the best of dancers. On our wedding, he stood on my toes so much during out first dance that I could hardly walk the next day."

Harry nearly spilled the butterbeer he was drinking as he laughed at that.

"I can only hope you and Damien didn't take after him." Lily said softly.

"It'll be okay. I don't know about Damy but I won't be going near the dance floor." Harry commented, wiping away spilt butterbeer with his hand.

Lily stared at Harry.

"Are you serious?" she asked.

"Yeah."

Lily shook her head and moved closer to Harry.

"Harry! You can't take a girl out to the Christmas Ball and then not dance with her! That's just cruel!"

Harry blinked in surprise at her.

"Why not?" he asked.

"The whole point of going to the Christmas Ball with your boyfriend is so that you can dance and enjoy yourself." Lily explained.

"She'll have a horrible time of you don't dance with her."

Harry looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking his head to clear his thoughts.

"It'll be okay. Ginny's not like that." he answered.

Lily moved closer to Harry so that she could face him.

"How long have you been dating her?" Lily asked seriously.

"I thought we had established the fact that I'm not discussing this with you." Harry answered with a smirk.

"Fine, I'll just have to guess." Lily retorted.

"I would say a few months, maybe since the start of the term." Lily judged that they had been dating for this long, basing it on what she had witnessed in Harry's dorm room.

Harry didn't answer her so Lily pushed on.

"I will also guess that since you have been dating, you haven't actually taken Ginny out on a proper date, am I right?"

Harry looked a little annoyed at this.

"Where am I supposed to take her? A midnight's walk on the Astronomy tower?"

"That actually sounds quite nice…" Lily said, looking like she was contemplating a romantic walk with James later on.

"Mum!" Harry snapped her back to the present.

With a sigh Lily faced him.

"Let me tell you a secret about girls" Lily started.

"Men are often right when they say that you can't understand women. It's actually true. You see we are more complex than men. Among our rather many gifts is the gift of patience. We have a lot of patience in us, but even the most patient girl will snap if you push her too far."

Harry looked confusedly at his mum. What the hell was she talking about?

"Err, mum. Any chance of explaining that in plain English?" he asked.

Lily sighed and closed her eyes.

"Ginny's a nice girl. She's doing what you want because she loves you. She doesn't push you into acknowledging the relationship because she knows that you're not comfortable with that. But seriously Harry, how long are you planning on keeping her a secret?"

"I'm not keeping her a secret! I wouldn't care if the whole school found out. It doesn't affect me." Harry said outraged.

"Really? So why is it that every time I see you in the Great Hall, you're not even looking at her. I haven't seen you act like a boyfriend towards her at all. If I hadn't walked in on you two, I wouldn't still know."

Harry opened his mouth to answer but lost his words. He sat up and looked uncomfortably at his mum. Lily softened a bit and reached out to hold Harry's hand.

"Harry, I know you. You're not a shy person. I know you can fight with men twice, maybe even three times your age. You're confident and strong minded. It's one of the things that makes me so proud of you. I just don't understand why you can't be confident and strong minded when it comes to your personal life. I see how you get irritated when your name is mentioned in front of other students. You don't like people staring at you, I can understand that. But at the same time you could stand in front of an army of Aurors and challenge them. That doesn't seem to bother you. You can fight with a student in front of the whole school, yet shy away from showing affection to one. I don't understand that."

Harry was now sitting up on the sofa. He looked away from his mum when he spoke.

"It's just… I don't like public shows of affection. It's just too personal." Harry mumbled.

"I understand that. Ginny probably does too. Look all I'm saying is don't change how you treat a person just because of those around you. Be who you are all the time. I think Ginny will appreciate that as well. It's not like she's asking for much. Every girl wants to be close to the one she loves. " Lily finished.

Harry thought about that as he left the dungeons. He had never really thought about how Ginny must feel. He was comfortable with her when they were alone but when they were in company of others, even if it was just Damien or Hermione, Harry would always act differently. He wouldn't even hold her hand. Harry had always just acted like that. He was taught to lock away his emotions. It was just the way he was brought up. He could act like he wanted when alone with Voldemort but as soon as they were in the company of others; Harry wouldn't even speak unless spoken to. It was dangerous to show your emotions. You never knew what the enemy might use against you.

Harry shook his head to clear his thoughts. This always happened. No matter what he was thinking about, his past life and Voldemort would always somehow seep into his thoughts, bringing back memories he rather wished he never had.

Harry promised to himself that he would make amends. He would deal with the gawking students like he dealt with threatening Aurors. He would tell them all to go to Hell!

xxx

The Ball was finally here. Classes were finished early so that everyone, including the Professors, could get ready for the Ball. School was finished for this term anyway. The next day everyone would prepare to leave for the holidays, except the few that remained at school for whatever reason.

Ginny walked into the common room, dressed and ready for the Ball.

"Oh, Ginny! You look beautiful!" Hermione said as she saw her friend wearing a beautiful dress. It was baby blue with silver embroidery done across the neck, sleeves and hem. Ginny's long red hair was brushed back into loose curls that fell to her back.

Ginny smiled, brushing a hand over her dress. It was the most expensive and beautiful thing she owned.

"Thanks, you look lovely too."

Hermione smiled back. Next to her Ron looked awkwardly between the two.

"Should we go?" he asked. Damien has already left to go and meet up with his date.

"Wait, what about Harry?" Ginny asked.

"He said he would meet you inside the hall" Ron said as he walked towards the portrait door.

"Romantic, isn't he!" Hermione muttered as they headed for the Great Hall. Ginny didn't respond.

She entered the Great Hall with Ron and Hermione by her side. The hall looked like it always did on Christmas, spectacular. There were twelve trees covered in snow and decorations. Every inch of the hall was glistening and every so often a sparkling star would zoom overhead.

All the Professors were dressed up for the occasion and some were already looking drunk. James and Lily were among the Professors and looked like they were enjoying themselves as well.

Ginny spotted Damien with his date. She smiled at them. They looked so cute together. Damien as wearing the red robes Lily had bought him and he actually looked really good in them. His date, Meno looked quite relaxed and relatively soon the two were making their way onto the floor to dance.

Ginny tried not to panic as she realised that nearly an hour had passed and Harry had not showed up yet. She had stayed at the table Ron and Hermione had been sitting at while they had gone onto the floor for some dancing. Ginny looked away as a few girls smirked at her. She must have looked quite ridiculous, all dressed up with no date. Ginny's eyes rested on the doors, where was Harry and why was he taking so long to come?

Damien came over to say hello to her.

"Hey, Ginny. You look great by the way."

Ginny smiled back rather weakly.

"Thanks Damy"

"Where's Harry?" Damien asked surveying the hall. He hadn't seen his brother.

Ginny shrugged her shoulders.

"Don't know. He hasn't come yet." She said as calmly as she could.

Damien stared at her, obviously not expecting that as an answer.

"Oh…he's probably just running late. He'll be here." he said, a promise disguised in his words.

"Thanks." Ginny said softly. In all honesty, Ginny was starting to doubt Harry was going to turn up tonight. He had probably changed his mind.

Soon Ron and Hermione had joined her, along with Damien and Meno. An hour and a half had passed since the Ball started and there was no sign of Harry. Ginny knew he wasn't going to come. She suppressed the urge to cry. She wasn't going cry, sixteen year olds don't cry, well, most of the time anyway.

"He's coming. He's probably run into a problem of some sort. He's not going to stand you up, Ginny." Damien said again, trying to cheer up his friend.

"He might have gotten his zipper stuck." Ron offered.

Hermione swung around to glare at her boyfriend.

"What? That can happen you know. It happened to me once." Ron admitted.

"That's because Fred and George charmed it to get stuck." Ginny told him in a defeated voice.

"Oh!" Ron said sending an apologetic look towards Damien since Meno was sitting next to him and must be wondering what kind of friends he had.

Hermione put a comforting hand on Ginny's shoulder.

"Ginny?" She said gently.

"I know, he's not coming. It's fine. I don't care anymore. Just because he didn't come doesn't mean I can't enjoy myself. This is my Christmas Ball and I'm going to have a good time, whether he comes or not!" Ginny said in a strong voice.

"That's my girl." Hermione whispered to her encouragingly.

"I'm going to have a few strong words with him!" Ron said angrily.

"Really Ron, what can you do?" Ginny said annoyed.

"Hey, you have six brothers! All six of us will come down on him if he hurts you like this!" Ron said emotionally.

"Seven" Damien added.

Ginny turned to look at him.

"If he's stood you up, I'm with Ron. I'll use all the training he's given me to thrash the hell out of him." Damien said just as angrily as Ron.

"That's really sweet you guys, but I don't think having the living daylights beaten out of you two, will make Ginny feel any better." Hermione said. Ginny nodded her head to show her agreement.

Ron and Damien looked like they had lost all the wind in them. They sat with their heads bowed.

"Come on, guys. Stop all this. We're here to have fun. Come on, get up!" Ginny got everyone out of their seats and headed to the dance floor.

Just as she got to the dance floor she noticed that a few girls dancing had stopped and were staring at the doors. Ginny looked over as well and felt all her breath leave her.

Standing at the doors, dressed in immaculate robes of deep royal blue, stood Harry. He locked his gaze with Ginny and walked gracefully into the hall. Ginny watched in a daze as Harry strode over to her. Every step he took, the robes moved along with him almost as if they were a part of him. Harry's hair was just as messy as always but today they just added to his sexy look. His messy locks were just brushing his shoulders. As Harry walked further into the hall the more people stopped to watch him.

Ginny snapped out of her daze as she realised that near enough every eye was on Harry, and Harry's emerald gaze was fixed on her! She suddenly realised why Harry was so late in coming. He had planned this. He wanted everyone to see him walk into the hall and then approach her. Her heart beat heavily in her chest as she watched Harry stop just a few steps away from her.

Without saying anything to her, Harry extended his hand and offered it to her. Ginny looked around her and saw that even some of the Professors were staring at them, but Harry's eyes never wavered away from Ginny's face. Wordlessly, Ginny took Harry's hand and moved into his arms as they started dancing.

"Merlin, you know how to make an entrance!" Ginny remarked.

Harry gave her a smile and moved gracefully to the music. The song that was playing was soft enough to just move around slowly. Most of the students had started dancing again but were still looking at Harry and Ginny. The girls were already whispering about why Harry was with Ginny, of all girls.

Ginny danced timidly with Harry while noticing the stares and whisperings. This must be torturing the hell out of her boyfriend. She knew Harry had done this for her, to show everyone that he was with her, but he didn't have to suffer these stares.

"Um, Harry. Everyone is staring at us." Ginny said.

Harry looked around himself and turned back to her.

"Well then, we should give them something to stare at." he responded.

Harry looked over at the direction of the band that was playing and suddenly the music changed to a more upbeat song. Before Ginny could brace herself, Harry had pulled her closer to him and started picking up the pace.

Harry was moving to the music like he had been made to dance to this song. He was taking Ginny with him. She was moving along with him, as if they had rehearsed this dance. Every movement of Harry's was sweeping Ginny off her feet. She gasped as Harry's hand slid across her waist and pulled her closer to him in one smooth move. Harry's eyes were shinning with happiness. He was really enjoying himself.

As the music picked up, so did Harry's dance moves. He swept Ginny off her feet a few times. His body was pressed up against hers so close that Ginny feared soon one of the Professors would stop them. But no one stopped them. Lily was watching Harry dance with Ginny and couldn't help the bright smile. She could see how happy Harry was. Harry was enjoying himself tonight and she had never seen him so confident and happy before.

The song ended leaving a breathless Ginny in Harry's arms. She cast a wary glance around her and saw that many students, mainly girls, were still staring at them wearing envious expressions. The best expressions were worn by Parvati and Lavender. Ginny smiled deeply before leaning against Harry, head resting on his chest. Harry wrapped his arms around her as they moved slowly to a gentler song.

"Thank you" Ginny whispered into Harry's chest. She knew just what it must have taken for him to do this.

Harry lightly kissed the top of Ginny's head.

"You're welcome" he said.

"You do realise that I'm not getting you anything for Christmas, right?" Harry asked getting a light punch on the arm in response.

She looked up at him, with a smile plastered over her face.

Harry took that opportunity to kiss her, making some girls actually moan out loud at the sight. Ginny was unaware though, she was completely lost in Harry.

He led her to the table where Damien, Ron and Hermione raced over to meet them.

"Where did you learn to dance like that?" Hermione asked in awe.

Harry only smiled back. He leaned over to reach a glass. He whispered to Damien when no one was looking.

"Fighting wasn't the only thing, _Alex _learnt!"

Damien grinned back.

The rest of the night was spent laughing around and doing more dancing. Even when the Ball was finished, the five Gryffindors lounged around in the common room, drinking butterbeer and goofing around. Harry had never had such a carefree time.

xxx

Harry awoke to Ron's voice, telling him that he would have to hurry or he would miss breakfast. Harry got up and started getting dressed. He only realised as he reached for his robes that he was wearing pyjamas. He didn't remember getting dressed out of his robes. Come to think of it, he didn't remember much of how he got to bed. The last thing he remembered was laughing around with Ron and Ginny in the common room. At the thought of last night a smile came across his face. He had enjoyed himself yesterday. He had never imagined a school dance could be so much fun.

As Harry trudged up towards the Great Hall for breakfast he let his thoughts wonder to Ginny. He had really enjoyed himself last night with her. He had never realised how coldly he treated her. Well, at least now he could have a normal relationship with her.

Just before Ron and Harry could reach the Great Hall for breakfast, a shout was heard behind them.

"Mr Potter!"

Harry and Ron turned around to see Professor McGonagall hurrying behind them. Harry spotted the look of shock and worry on her face right away.

"Mr Potter! Please come with me. Mr Weasley, please hurry along or you will miss breakfast!"

Harry turned to Ron with a bewildered look. What was all this about? Ron looked just as confused as Harry felt. Ron went into the hall while Harry followed the Transfiguration Professor.

Harry didn't bother to ask her what had happened. He knew that if she was going to tell him, she would have done so already.

Harry wasn't surprised he was led to Dumbledore's office. The gargoyle stepped aside to allow access. As Harry walked into the Headmaster's office, he found the sight before him, both strange and unnerving. James and Lily were seated in Dumbledore's office; both had distressed looks on their faces. Even Professor Dumbledore was looking uncharacteristically unnerved.

"What's going on?" Harry found himself asking without even meaning to.

In response, the Headmaster stood from his chair and walked over to him, a newspaper clutched in his hand. He stood over him, eyes searching Harry's intensely. Professor Dumbledore handed over the copy of the Daily Prophet. Harry took the newspaper, eyes still searching Dumbledore's grave looking face.

Harry looked at the front page and felt all the air around him vanish. He struggled to try and comprehend what he was seeing. His eyes scanned the newspaper, trying to make sense of the picture before him. An image of a destroyed village glared back at him. There were bodies everywhere. Houses were ablaze, the thick black smoke circling the houses was still clearly visible.

But the thing that had taken Harry's breath away was the figure standing among all the chaos. A figure dressed in black. A figure with dark locks being swept in the wind. A figure that had a silver mask covering his face. A very familiar silver mask. The emerald green eyes that were glistening behind the mask were clouded with a fierce hate.

Harry's eyes swept up to read the headline: The Dark Prince Returns!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Okay, so there you have it. The main plot is here. You all wanted more drama, so from here it begins! LOL! Please review! Cheers.


	13. Christmas with the Weasleys'

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks for the great reviews! Here's the next instalment. Enjoy!!

Chapter Thirteen

Harry couldn't tear his eyes away from the picture of the so-called Dark Prince. Everything about him was sickeningly familiar. His pose, the way he was holding his wand, that silver mask, _his_ silver mask, all in all it looked just like Harry. The dark haired teen looked up at Dumbledore to find him staring at him, searching him with his blue eyes.

Before Harry could open his mouth to speak, a noise made him, and everyone one else in the office, turn around. Ron had come bursting through the door, clutching a copy of the newspaper in his hand. Hermione, Ginny and Damien were just behind him, all looking considerably pale.

"Professor Dumbledore! Professor Dumbledore, Sir! It, it wasn't Harry! He was with us! It wasn't Harry!" Ron yelled fervently. He sounded out of breath, as he had no doubt run all the way from the Great Hall.

"Mr Weasley" Dumbledore addressed calmly.

"Please calm down. I know that it wasn't Harry." he continued.

Harry turned in surprise to look at the Headmaster.

"Oh…um…good." Ron said, embarrassedly. His face turning redder by the moment.

"Well, um…I'll…I'll just be outside then." He said as Professor McGonagall sternly ushered him and the others outside.

As the door closed, Harry turned once again to look at the Headmaster.

"You don't think it was me?" Harry asked, not believing that Dumbledore would be so trusting of him.

"No, Harry. I do not think it was you." Dumbledore reassured him.

James and Lily had stood up and were standing behind Dumbledore. Both had distress showing on their face.

"I only asked for you to come up here because I did not want you to walk into the Hall, not knowing about this incident."

Harry still doubted that but remained silent. His head was still spinning with what he had just seen.

"I haven't received any communication from the Ministry as of yet, but I daresay they will be in contact soon." Dumbledore said, turning to face James and Lily.

"Surely they won't think its Harry, will they, Dumbledore?" James asked, his nervousness clear in his voice.

Harry noticed how his dad's hands were clenched into fists and his eyes were clouded with worry.

"Harry was here at the time of the attack. There are plenty of people that will vouch for Harry being present at the Ball. He didn't leave Hogwarts last night! They can't blame Harry for this! Besides, anyone can be behind that mask! " Lily quickly added.

Dumbledore looked at Lily kindly.

"Do not worry, Lily. Harry is safe." Dumbledore reassured her.

Harry however, annoyed at the last statement, made for the door.

"Harry?" Lily called after him.

"Looks like you guys are finished here, I should go." Harry said with a hard look on his face. Turning to Dumbledore, Harry added in an angrily.

"And next time, Professor, don't worry on my behalf. I can deal with stares and whispers on my own!" With that, Harry left the office before anyone could call him back.

James caught up with him in the corridor.

"Harry, wait!"

Harry stopped and tried to push the sudden anger down. James faced him, concerned eyes met his.

"Harry, he's only trying to help…" James started.

"He doesn't need to help. I don't want his help!" Harry spat angrily.

"Harry…" James tried to intervene but Harry wasn't finished yet.

"Who does Dumbledore think he is? Telling mum not to worry, saying that I'm safe! My safety has nothing to do with him!" Harry continued.

James could only stare at his son as he ranted on angrily.

"I hate it when he acts like this! Like he honestly cares! He doesn't care about me, only cares enough to use me. To use everyone for that matter! I just can't stand him!"

Harry's eyes were swimming with anger and his hatred of Dumbledore was making itself more pronounced.

"You know that's not true. Dumbledore does care for you. You just can't see it." James told him evenly.

Harry opened his mouth, undoubtedly to shout, but seemed to change his mind. He glared at James instead.

"Forget it, you won't understand." He muttered, more to himself.

Before James could question him, Harry spoke, an emotionless mask drifting over his face.

"I guess you came because you want to know where I was last night, before the ball?"

James stared at Harry. It was times like this that James wished he could slap some sense into Harry. He wondered what he would have to do to show Harry that he had his full trust.

Choosing to ignore his son's ridiculous question, James turned to leave. Before making his way back to Dumbledore's office, James turned to look at Harry.

"We'll find him Harry. The one responsible for last night, and when we do, he'll wish he was never born." James said. He left after making that promise, leaving a bemused but slightly comforted Harry behind.

xxx

Harry didn't go to the Great Hall. Instead he headed for the common room again. He had to be on his own so that he could figure out his thoughts. The full impact of what had happened hadn't hit him yet. At least his dad believed him. For now that was enough. If only he could figure out his memories so that he could believe _himself_. That would be wonderful.

Harry's mind was still reeling from the image he had seen. As he recovered from the initial shock, he realised that there was no way that could be him. Even if he couldn't remember the late part of last night, that didn't mean there was a possibility that he had carried out this attack. He hadn't been sleeping very well in the last few days. The Dreamless Sleeping potion had run out and Harry knew he couldn't risk taking anymore. There could be a risk of addiction if he continued taking it without giving himself a break of at least two weeks. Harry figured that he was probably just very tired and his mind was so exhausted he fell into a deep sleep. Last night was a rare occasion that he had slept without taking the potion and had not been disturbed by any nightmares. Yes, that was the most likely explanation. He was exhausted, body and mind, and had fallen into a deep sleep. His mind probably didn't register the events of late last night. And in any case, Ron had just confirmed to Dumbledore that Harry was with them, in their company.

As Harry neared the portrait of the fat lady he saw the four Gryffindors waiting for him.

Harry's first reaction was to get annoyed at them. He saw the looks of worry and fear on their faces, however and felt his annoyance slip away. 'They're just worried, don't push them away' he told himself sternly.

They all entered the common room and headed straight for their usual spot. The common room was empty as everyone was still having breakfast. As soon as they sat down, Damien was the first to speak.

"Okay, what the hell is happening?"

Harry didn't answer.

Ron unfurled the copy that was still in his hands and all five of them looked at the picture uncomfortably. Harry started reading the article, wanting to know if the attack was actually blamed on him or not. He found that although the headline said 'Dark Prince' the reporter in fact didn't mention Harry. The only reference made was that the attacker was dressed _familiarly_ to the Dark Prince. _'The silver mask that had once belonged to the Dark Prince was seen again'._

It was clear now that the Daily Prophet had only used those headlines to catch interest.

"It's obvious that this was a plot to frame you." Hermione said after looking at the figure for a few moments.

"Whoever did this though, messed up. They chose the same night as the Christmas Ball. The whole of Hogwarts can vouch for you. You didn't leave Hogwarts last night." Hermione went on, a little colour returning to her face.

Harry sat quietly, figuring out the facts himself silently in his own mind.

"And it is very convenient to hide behind a mask, isn't it. It could be anyone." Ginny added.

"Yeah, I mean he…he doesn't look like you, at all." Ron said unconvincingly.

Everyone turned to look at Ron. That was the thing that was troubling everyone. It was the fact that the picture _looked_ like Harry. The hair, the pose, those emerald eyes. That was what had troubled Harry the moment he saw it. If he didn't know any better, he would have been certain that it was his picture for definite.

"What did Professor Dumbledore say?" Damien asked, snapping Harry out of his thoughts.

"Nothing, he just wanted me to know about this before going into the Hall." Harry replied.

"That was nice of him." Hermione said.

Harry only glared at her.

"So, he doesn't suspect you." Ginny asked.

"No, apparently he doesn't." Harry replied dryly.

"Of course he doesn't suspect you! Like I said, you were at the Ball last night. Everyone saw you." Hermione said determinedly.

"Hermione, everyone saw me walk into the hall over an hour and half late." Harry said. He had to say if no one else was going to mention it.

The other four didn't know how to respond to that.

"That doesn't mean that you were away. An hour and a half isn't enough time for you to leave Hogwarts, attack and burn a whole village, come back and then dress up and attend a ball. It's ludicrous if anyone suggests that." Ginny responded, looking Harry straight in the eye as she spoke.

"Exactly! You couldn't do all that in such a short time space." Hermione continued.

"You would have had to leave Hogwarts and someone would have seen you and reported it. You have to walk down to Hogsmeade before you could apparate because everyone knows that no one can apparte whilst in Hogwarts."

Harry's eyes darted over to Damien in time to see the colour drain from his face. He was staring at him, seemingly unable to tear his eyes away.

"…it would have to have taken three hours at the very least." Hermione had evidently been continuing her argument that it couldn't be Harry but neither Harry nor Damien had heard her.

"We should really go and catch some of breakfast." Ron said, looking a lot better than he had a few moments ago.

"Yeah, come on, Harry." Hermione said.

"I've lost my appetite." Harry answered, still looking at his brother.

"You should come and have something to eat. Besides, you don't want to hide out here. It'll just make people suspicious of you." Hermione told him.

Harry's glare made her gulp. She shouldn't have said that.

"Firstly, I'm not _hiding_ anywhere. Secondly I couldn't give two shits about what others think! You should know that by now!" Harry almost spat at her angrily.

Hermione recovered and replied just as angrily.

"I do know that! That's precisely why I want you to walk into the hall, head held high! If you don't, it'll make people talk rubbish and while you may not be affected the rest of us are!"

Harry could only stare at her.

"You're our friend. I don't want anyone to say anything against you. We suffered enough of that last year." She finished a little gentler.

Harry looked over at Damien and saw, to his relief that he was looking at him again. The look of suspicion that had clouded his face moments ago was now gone.

"Come on, Harry." Damien said quietly.

Harry stood up and walked with the others towards the door. Just as he climbed through the portrait door, Damien caught up with him and discreetly squeezed Harry's hand comfortingly and whispered.

"Apparate or not, I still know it wasn't you."

Harry let out a breath he wasn't even aware of holding. He saw Damien's eyes shine with trust and felt like a weight was lifted from him. He might not care what others thought of him, but he had felt the stab of dread fill him when Damien had looked at him suspiciously. He could handle the distrustful stares of strangers but he couldn't handle it if Damien looked at him with mistrust. That would destroy him.

xxx

As soon as Harry walked into the Great Hall he wished he had just skipped breakfast. All the students had a copy of the Daily Prophet before them and were discussing it loudly. They stopped when they spotted Harry at the door. Harry watched as an uncomfortable silence washed through the room.

"Come on, Harry" Ron nudged him to walk.

Harry knew that it was important that he made an appearance after what had happened. He didn't want to make it look like he was hiding or something like that. Harry didn't do anything, or at least he didn't _remember_ doing anything like this. He walked as confidently as he could to the Gryffindor table and sat down.

Hermione and Ginny started talking about the ball, intending for everyone else to talk about the ball as well. Unfortunately, this didn't work. Harry was very aware of the eyes glued to him. He acted as carefree as he could under the circumstances but deep inside he wanted to curse the living hell out of all of them. This acting civil thing was really not something he could do for very long.

He looked up as Dean Thomas asked him to pass the bowl of strawberries. Harry did so silently. Dean gave him a comforting sort of smile. Harry just watched in a confused daze.

Slowly, the babble broke out and the hall was filled with the usual chatter. Harry was not fooled though. The chatter was forced and strained.

As soon as the awkward breakfast was over, Harry stood up, ready to pack and leave this place. He had only a taken one step when Seamus stood up and approached him.

"I just wanted to let you know, that I…I trust you." he said awkwardly.

"Trust me?" Harry asked confusedly.

"You know…I know that it wasn't you, last night." He nodded in the direction of the table, where a copy of the newspaper lay.

Harry just stared at him.

"Um, okay" Harry muttered, not really knowing what he was supposed to say in response.

Following Seamus' lead, the rest of Gryffindor and many other students, expressed their trust in him. Harry could only stare at them in disbelief. How could they trust him? Were they so naïve that they had already forgotten his past?

Harry was glad that they left for Christmas break soon after Breakfast. He didn't think he could have taken much more of Hogwarts. As soon as they arrived home, James sat Harry down and explained a few things.

"First things first, the Minister fire called as soon as you left Dumbledore's office." Harry looked up at James, noting the look of relief on his fathers face.

"They don't suspect you, Harry"

Harry snorted.

"I guessed as much, otherwise I would be in Azkaban by now." Harry joked.

Both James and Lily paled at the mention of the wizard prison.

"Don't joke, Harry." Lily told him weakly.

James just ignored Harry's remark and pressed on.

"For once, the Minister's shown common sense and concluded that the Death Eater couldn't be you. The only similarity was the mask. Anyone could be behind that mask." James finished.

Harry didn't say anything; he just sat in silence, trying to absorb the fact that the Ministry were not pinning this on him. He wasn't stupid though. The Ministry had spent the last five months or so painting him as a saviour. It would not do so well if that saviour attacked his own people, would it?

James and Lily tried to make small talk with Harry for the rest of the day. After the initial talk coming back home, they completely ignored the incident. They were trying to make everything seem normal. Harry was his usual quiet self, letting Damien answer any questions directed at them.

Harry felt rather foolish at his initial panic. This was just some stupid Death Eater who was trying to take Harry's place. The next Dark Prince! That thought made sudden anger erupt in Harry. Who was this? And did they seriously have a death wish, imitating him?

Harry settled back comfortably, cooking up exactly what he would do to this person once he was caught.

xxx

"Damien! Harry! James! All of you get down here. We're going to be late!" Lily yelled for the third time.

It was almost midday and they were supposed to be at the Burrow by now. The Weasley's had invited them over at their house for Christmas Lunch. Lily had not been too keen on the idea since it was Harry's first proper Christmas with them and she wanted to spend it in their own home, just the family. She thought about Ginny and decided not to be so selfish and figured that it wasn't a bad idea. Harry would probably like to see her on Christmas. She figured they could have Christmas Dinner in their own home, just the Potter family, and Sirius and Remus of course!

"I swear, if you three don't come down this instance I will…" Lily stopped as Damien came running down the stairs.

"Tut, tut, threatening your family on Christmas! Honestly mum, where's your holiday spirit?" he smirked.

"Completely evaporated whilst waiting for you three!" Lily retorted.

Harry came down followed closely by James, seemingly arguing about something.

"What's wrong now?" Lily asked, feeling the last of her patience wither away.

"Explain to your son that I've been chosen as the Defence of the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts for a reason!" James said.

Lily saw the playful smirk on Harry's face.

"Fine, fine. I won't say anything. Don't blame me though when everyone falls asleep during your lecture." Harry teased as he brushed past them and headed for the floo.

"They won't fall asleep! My lectures are interesting. I know what I'm talking about." James continued to argue.

Harry turned to face his dad; he sighed dramatically and shook his head.

"Okay, dad. If you say so."

James opened his mouth but Lily stopped him from retaliating.

"Enough, we don't have time for this! James, pick up the pies from the kitchen. Damien, grab the bag with presents in them, yes, that one. Harry, stop patronising your father."

Harry smirked and followed Damien to pick up the presents for the Weasleys'.

"I'm not going to ask your opinion on my lectures, ever again." James commented as he walked over, holding the Mince Pies.

Harry only grinned back.

The Potter family arrived at the Burrow to find the small cottage filled with people already. Harry braced himself for this. As soon as they entered the house, Arthur Weasley hurried over to greet them.

"Hi James! Merry Christmas!"

He greeted each of them in the same way, wishing them a Merry Christmas. Harry managed to mumble back a Merry Christmas as well. He still found it strange. He had never celebrated Christmas before. 'Well, except for my very first one when I was only one' he thought to himself. Not that he could remember any of it. Voldemort wasn't really the kind to celebrate Christmas so Harry had grown up without it. He didn't tell anyone though. It wouldn't really do anyone any good.

Harry found a large crowd of red heads making their way over to him. He recognised the twins and the really skinny one. He was at Harry's trial, Percy, yes that was his name. He remembered the one with scars was Bill, so he assumed that the one he didn't recognise must be Charlie.

All the boys came over and greeted them, wishing them a Merry Christmas. Harry saw that Percy seemed almost nervous to be in the same room as Harry, the twins were acting like their usual self, making jokes and being relatively friendly. Charlie however was looking at Harry with distaste. Harry found his somewhat good mood vanish as he saw the distrust and severe dislike in his eyes.

Charlie didn't hang around and excused himself, heading into the kitchen. Harry didn't get the chance to wonder what was wrong as the next moment he was in the strong embrace of Ginny. Ron was standing next to her, smiling sheepishly at the sight.

"Merry Christmas, Harry." Ginny whispered to him, taking his mind away from everyone else.

Dinner was an interesting affair. All of them sat around the wooden table, eating and talking at the same time. Perhaps that wasn't good mannered but no one at the table seemed to mind. Harry was aware of the looks Charlie was giving him. He openly scowled as Ginny sat next to Harry and laughed with him.

"That's Charlie, isn't he?" Harry asked, just to make sure he wasn't mixing him up with someone else.

Ginny's smile faltered but she was quick to cover it. Not quick enough though as Harry had caught it.

"Yes. Harry did you know that Dad didn't get a chance to come to the Duel club? He wasn't even considered. Sucks huh?"

"Yeah" Harry responded.

Harry went with the sudden topic change. He could tell Ginny was not on speaking terms with Charlie. She refused to even look at him while he sat across the table, positively glaring at her.

Harry decided to ignore Charlie and his behaviour. He had only come here to see Ginny and perhaps Ron as well. He wasn't going to ruin the mood today by arguing with anyone.

Harry noticed the pretty fair haired girl sit gracefully at the table next to Bill. Ginny had introduced her as Fleur, Bill's wife. Harry watched as she focused intently on Bill and no one else. They both seemed very much in love. Harry glanced over at Ron and felt sorry for him. He was missing Hermione like crazy. She was on a skiing trip with her parents and so couldn't be here. Harry knew quite a lot about muggles, knowledge that _Alex_ had picked up but he still don't know what skiing was.

"She's going to glide over _snow_ with straps of _wood_ tied to her shoes?" Harry exclaimed when Ron explained what snow skiing was.

"Yeah" Ron replied.

"Never pegged Hermione as the daredevil type" Harry said.

"Apparently, it's not that dangerous and Hermione said that muggles do this quite often. It's a popular hobby." Ron replied.

"Personally, I think she's making it up." Ron said as an afterthought.

Harry didn't comment.

Ginny helped her mum clear up the table. Everyone else settled around the fire. It was a cold crisp day. There was no sign of snow, but the day was very cold. The sun was shinning though, which made the boys go outside.

Harry caught a glance of the room built over the garage. He smiled as he remembered the time he had spent ten days in there, recovering from the transfer spell and the Death Eater attack. At that point in his life he had never thought he would be able to walk around as a free man. The only certainty he had was that he would die. Either at the hands of Aurors or Voldemort. The thought of Voldemort made his stomach churn uncomfortably. He had suffered another nightmare last night. It seemed never ending. If he took Dreamless Sleeping potion he was fine, but whenever he slept without the help of the potion, he would have nightmares. He knew he couldn't up the dosage of the potion. He had to take a break from it otherwise he would become addicted. He didn't want that.

He snapped out of his thoughts as Ron came and stood next to him.

"Remembering happy days?" Ron asked as he too caught the sight of the room.

Harry smirked and gave Ron a mock glare.

"It reminds me that I have yet to repay you for your…kindness. Sticking me in your back yard when I was ill and injured."

Ron smiled apologetically.

"We couldn't take you anywhere else, mate. Desperate times and all that."

Harry looked back at the small room.

"I guess it wasn't all that bad. You could have at least cleaned it though."

"We did! We spent ages cleaning and heating it." Ron cried indignantly.

"Cleaning? What were you cleaning?" a voice sounded behind them.

Harry and Ron whipped around and saw Mrs Weasley standing behind them, holding two mugs. Ron gulped audibly.

"Ron, what were you cleaning? I don't think I've ever seen you clean anything." Mrs Weasley said as she handed him and Harry a mug each.

Harry took the offered drink and turned to stare Ron, clearly amused by his fright.

"Oh, um, nothing mum. Harry and I were just, you know, discussing something" he trailed off, looking quite frightened.

Mrs Weasley looked at her son, scrutinising him with her stare. Ron shifted uncomfortably. His mum could always tell when one of them was lying.

She looked over at Harry and then back at Ron, but didn't say anything.

"Don't stay out here too long. It's too cold." She said. She gave Harry a warm look before leaving.

"Phew! That was close. I don't even want to think what mum would do to me if she ever found out." Ron said taking a gulp of the hot cocoa.

"Found out what. That you helped me?" Harry asked.

Ron shook his head.

"No, not that. Mum and dad always believed Dumbledore. They knew you were on the run from Voldemort. They would get angry if they found out we knew where you where and we didn't tell them. Furthermore, mum would freak if she found out you were ill and injured and we didn't get the proper medical help for you. That would probably upset her more than our deception." Ron explained.

Harry thought about that as the boys goofed around. He found the twins standing before him, smiling strangely at him.

"Hey, Harry! Want a go?" Fred said as he held out his broomstick.

The boys were throwing small balls into the air and one of them was flying around, trying to catch them.

Harry shook his head.

"No thanks."

"Not much for flying?" Bill asked as he joined them.

Harry was about to answer when Ron jumped in.

"Rubbish! Harry's the best flyer in Hogwarts! He's the fastest Seeker ever."

Bill turned to look at Harry, eyes wide with surprise.

"You played in Hogwarts?" he asked.

"Yeah" Harry answered.

"I didn't think you would have. Who taught you to fly?" he asked

Harry wasn't expecting that question. He looked Bill in the eye as he responded.

"The same person who taught me everything else." Harry said a little defensively.

Bill didn't flinch or even look taken aback. Instead he smiled.

"How many flying lessons did you take?" Bill asked, ignoring the warning looks Ron was shooting at him.

"I didn't actually take any flying lessons. I just found I had to fly one day and I did. It was more instinct than anything else." Harry responded.

"You know, Charlie didn't learn how to fly either. He was a natural, like you." Bill said after a while

Bill was about to say something else but then seemingly changed his mind. Ron was staring at Harry with awe. Harry didn't actually learn how to fly.

"Your instinctual magic is really advanced, if half the things I've heard about you are correct." Bill went on.

Harry just shrugged, not knowing how to respond to compliments.

"I heard from Ron that you're helping with the Duelling club." Bill said, the corners of his mouth twitching as he restrained himself from smiling.

Harry threw Ron a disgruntled look.

"You should teach them." Bill said after looking at Harry carefully.

"What?" Harry asked annoyed. He had only just met this guy and he was already telling him what to do.

"How to use Instinctual magic. You should teach the students that. It would really help them." Bill went on.

"I don't think I should be the one to teach them anything. It's not my place." Harry said. He knew he should be really annoyed with him. He didn't ask for his opinion and yet here he was giving him teaching advice. But for an unknown reason, he couldn't' get angry with Bill.

"No, it's not your place. But if you did help them, maybe they would survive the attacks. The War may be over, but there are plenty of battles to come."

A sad look drifted over Bill's face, the sunlight illuminated the horrid scars on Bill's face and Harry felt unexplainable pity for the young man before him. Harry understood what he was trying to say. If Bill had been a better dueller he may have saved himself from becoming so severely disfigured.

The boys went back inside when it was too cold to stay outside. Harry saw the adults sitting huddled next to the fire, talking quietly. Harry knew what they were talking about from the serious looks on their faces. The Dark Prince! Or rather the 'wannabe Dark Prince'. Harry stifled a bitter laugh. Honestly, which idiot decided to go and ruin their life by pulling this prank?

From what Harry had gathered, the impostor still had not been caught. The Ministry were claiming to be working hard to figure out who this was. The attack on the village of Redhill had left ten dead and fourteen injured. Most of the houses had been burned and had left many homeless.

The Ministry had put in a notice the next day, claiming that they had many witnesses and the person responsible would be found in no time at all. So far they had not been able to catch anyone.

Harry knew that his parents couldn't stop discussing it. They acted like everything was normal, but Harry would catch them talking about the impostor when they thought they were alone. Remus and Sirius were also forever talking about it. It gave Harry a headache just thinking about it.

Harry was still surprised the whole thing hadn't been blamed on him. It was a welcome change. He hadn't told anyone that he couldn't remember the previous night before the attack. He knew it wouldn't solve anything and would only make the situation worse. He kept that detail to himself.

Harry looked around for Ginny and realised that she wasn't there. He figured she might be in the kitchen so headed there. He wanted to stop thinking about the 'wannabe Dark Prince'. It only darkened his mood.

He was about to enter the kitchen when he heard arguing voices coming from inside. He decided not to go in and stood, listening to the heated argument.

"…like I told you last night! It's none of your bloody business!" Ginny was yelling at someone.

"Ginny, you're being stupid. You know his background and you're still getting involved with him!" Harry knew without a doubt who Ginny was arguing with. It was Charlie.

"His background had nothing to do with you. Stop interfering Charlie!" Ginny hissed at him. She tried to lower voice, not wanting anyone to realise they were arguing.

Harry cracked open the door and peeked inside. Both Ginny and Charlie were standing near the sink. They were evidently washing the dishes.

"I have to interfere. You're my sister and I'm not going to let you come to any harm!" Charlie argued. He was staring angrily at her while Ginny washed the dishes.

"I look after myself, Charlie. I'm sixteen! I can decide for myself who to date!" Ginny argued back.

Harry felt his heart skip a few beats. They were arguing about him.

"For God's sake, Ginny! He's a murderer!"

Ginny let go of the plate she was washing and turned to face him, a fierce look on her face.

"Don't you dare talk about Harry like that!" she hissed at him.

"Why not? I'm not lying! He's a murderer! He was You-Know-Who's right hand man. His _son_ and you still want to date him?" Charlie asked, his eyes popping out slightly with anger.

"The reason I'm dating him is because I love him." Ginny said, taking care to say each word slowly and carefully so that her brother could understand her.

Charlie let out an exasperated sigh.

"Love? Ginny, you're sixteen. You don't know anything about love." He started.

"I know everything there is to love, Charlie. And in any case, you don't have a say in this. You're not my father. You can't tell me what to do. Mum and dad are okay with me seeing Harry, so I don't think you have any right to interfere!" Ginny snapped at him.

Charlie had his hands rolled into fists by now and took a step nearer.

"Don't delude yourself in stupid day dreams Ginny! He was brought up by the Darkest wizard of our time. He's cruel and evil, just like Him. You don't change from something like that! He's killed before, he'll kill again! You mark my words Gin. Sooner or later it will come out that he's the one behind these attacks..."

Ginny slapped Charlie hard on the face, cutting him off. The soapy water clung to Charlie's cheek. He looked at his sister, eyes wide with surprise and shock.

"You bastard!" she shouted at him.

"How could you say that? Harry is _nothing_ like Voldemort. He's not cruel! He's not evil! And he's not a mass murderer! Whatever Harry did in the past was different. He killed because he was commanded to! Harry never killed out of his own accord!" Ginny was half sobbing now, angry tears filled her eyes as she stood with her hands curled into fists.

"You're so quick to point an accusing finger at him. Why don't you look closer to your own family? Dad's an Auror. He's killed plenty of people. Bill, Fred, George and even Percy took part in the final battle. Plenty were hurt and maybe even killed in the battle! You don't accuse them of being killers!" Ginny continued to shout.

"That's different, they only killed Death Eaters!" Charlie shouted back.

"So did, Harry!" Ginny retorted.

Charlie was speechless but only for a moment. He shook his head and glared back at Ginny.

"I tried making you see sense, but you're too far gone to see the truth. Your trust in him will be your downfall Ginny. He's not to be trusted. Think about it, if he could kill the one who brought him up, the one he called 'father', what makes you think he won't kill you?"

Harry moved away from the door, not wanting to listen anymore. His heart was beating wildly in his chest. His hands were curled into fists so tightly that his nails were digging painfully into his palms. All Harry could do was turn around and go back outside. He walked back through the living room ignoring everyone around him and hurried outside.

He kept on walking. He heard Ron shouting behind him, asking where he was going. Harry didn't respond. He jumped over the low fence and started running. He didn't want to stop. Charlie's words had struck a nerve. It hurt so unbelievably much that Harry didn't want to stop to accept it. Harry was a murderer. He accepted that. Harry killed many times in his life. He accepted that as well. He had betrayed Voldemort. He had killed the man that had brought him up. Harry didn't want to accept that. The one who had taught him everything he knew. The one to give him power. He had killed him. Charlie was right. Harry couldn't be trusted. No one should trust him. Not when Harry had betrayed his own father.

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Please Review! Cheers!!


	14. To bare your soul

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Hey guys! Thanks to all those who reviewed. Here's a fast update because you reviewed. Don't say I don't spoil you. LOL Enjoy!

**Chapter Fourteen**

Lily glanced at the clock before taking another shaky gulp of her coffee. It was coming up for ten now and Harry still hadn't come home. She refused to talk about it though. She didn't want to argue with James again. She couldn't understand why James refused to go out and look for him. After everything they had gone through in the past, if it were up to her, she would be outside, searching for him.

Lily let out a frustrated sigh and rubbed at her temples, willing the headache to go away. She was really, really angry with Harry. 'Why does he do this every time?' she thought to herself. This was the third time Harry had run away and it was always on a special occasion. The first time it was at their house warming party. Okay, she admitted that Harry wasn't entirely to blame for that. From what Damien had told her Neville had really upset Harry. So Harry was forgiven for that. The second time was during Damien's birthday party. Again, it was a good reason. Harry couldn't deal with Bella's death and had left to attend her funeral. The thought still caused her heart to twist with jealousy. After everything that woman did to him, Harry still loved her. Lily pushed these bitter thoughts aside, now wasn't the time to think about that. Lily knew that judging from these past events, Harry would have a good reason for leaving the Weasley's. But for the life of her she couldn't figure out what it could be.

When they realised that Harry had stormed out and had left, they had tried to follow him but Harry had just vanished. Damien tried calling him on his mobile phone when they got back home but Harry didn't answer it. Lily felt sorry for Ginny, she had looked really upset. She looked near to tears when she learned that Harry had left. Molly had instantly turned to her boys and demanded to know what they had said to him. But all the boys looked as shocked as everyone else at Harry's abrupt departure. As far as they could tell, Harry was having a good time.

Lily sighed again and drained her cup of the coffee. She was really tired, but she refused to go to bed until Harry came home. She threw James another glare as he sat talking quietly with Remus and Sirius. Damien was sitting quietly in the corner of the room. The pile of presents sat unopened at the foot of the tree. 'Some Christmas!' Lily thought sadly.

James was trying to keep his mind from wandering to Harry. 'The boy is seventeen!' he thought to himself. 'He can take care of himself. I'm not running after him again'. A part of James wanted nothing more than to go out and find his son and bring him back, but James knew that it couldn't go on like this. How many times was he going to go running, looking for Harry? Harry would have to stop doing this.

James looked over at his youngest son, looking miserable. He had tried to get Damien to open up his presents, in a bid to make the atmosphere more relaxed but Damien had refused. He said he would open his presents with his brother. James didn't have any response to that.

Remus and Sirius had offered to go look for Harry, but James made them stay. No one was going looking for him. Harry could find his own way home. James kept a firm grip on his temper. He wasn't going to make things worse that they already were.

A sudden noise snapped everyone's attention to the hallway. Someone had unmistakably opened the front door and had walked in. The five occupants of the room sprang to their feet and rushed out of the living room. They all heard a loud crash and someone cursing. James was one of the first ones to turn around the corner and catch sight of Harry. He was in the process of picking himself up off the floor. He had apparently knocked the coat stand to the floor, hence the loud crash.

Harry looked up at the five individuals standing, staring at him. He gave them a bright grin before getting to his feet.

"Hi!" he said as he straightened up.

"Who put that there?" he asked pointing to the fallen coat stand.

James and Lily stared wide eyed at their son. He was acting very strange. They had never seen him smiling so broadly before. His eyes had a look of drowsiness though. He stood slightly swaying. He took a step towards them and stumbled over his own feet, just catching himself from falling flat on his face again.

Suddenly Lily realised what was wrong with him.

"Are you drunk?" she exclaimed.

Harry looked at her, trying hard to focus at her. He gave her a lop sided grin.

"No!" he said unconvincingly.

At seeing her serious expression, he shrugged.

"Well, okay yes! I had a little drink." He said holding his finger and thumb only an inch apart.

"But I had a few thousand of them." he chuckled and almost lost his balance again.

Despite his rising anger, James moved forward instinctively and grabbed Harry before he fell again. Harry struggled to straighten himself upright and gave James a drunken grin.

"Come on." James said quietly leading Harry towards the stairs. It was obvious that Harry was completely inebriated. It was pointless to question him now. He needed his bed.

Harry freed himself from James' grasp and moved towards the stairs.

"It's okay, okay. I can…manage." Harry's words were slurred and he had to grab onto the banister in order to stay upright.

"Go to bed, we'll talk in the morning." Lily said while Damien moved towards his drunken brother. Harry couldn't manage to go upstairs by himself. It was a wonder how he got home.

Harry brushed Damien away and stared at Lily.

"Okay" he slurred.

Before going upstairs though he turned back to face the group.

"Do you know what?" He started.

"I'll always remember today. I want you to know that…I'll always remember today." Harry said, swaying on the spot.

"And not because today was my very first Christmas. No, not that…"

Lily let out a small gasp. That thought hadn't occurred to her. She was focusing on the fact that this was Harry's first Christmas with his family. She had never realised that this may be Harry's first Christmas altogether.

"…I'll always remember this day because I learned a very important lesson today." Harry's grin slipped off his face and his drowsy eyes seemed to sharpen a fraction.

"I learned that no matter how hard I try…no matter how much I lie to myself, I will never fit in."

James felt like someone had slapped him across the face. Harry's simple statement had left everyone in the room speechless. Harry however wasn't aware of the reaction around him and continued in his drunken state.

"I should have known, really. It should have been obvious. No matter what I do, I'll always be known as Harry, the murderer! Voldemort's assassin...Voldemort's betrayer." even being drunk couldn't mask the pain in Harry's voice.

"Harry…" James started as he took a step near his son.

"No, no. it's alright. It's the truth isn't it? I did betray him. He's right, he's right. I'm evil and cruel. He's right. I shouldn't be trusted." Harry's words were badly slurred but everyone heard him clearly.

Harry's mood had completely changed. There wasn't a trace of a smile anywhere on his face. For the first time the emotional pain he was in was clearly visible.

James was at Harry's side in an instant. He held him by the shoulders, in order to support him.

"Who said that to you?" James demanded. He realised that this had to be the reason Harry had abruptly left the Burrow.

Harry didn't answer James' question. Truth be told he didn't even realise that someone was talking to him. He was too caught up in his own drunken stupor.

"…can't be trusted…he's right…evil…that's what I am. Evil…terrible thing to do…kill your own father, terrible, terrible…"

James stiffened at Harry's words. The tension became almost unbearable. Sirius and Remus stood awkwardly in the midst of this. They could see James' whole body tense at Harry's words. Lily was crying, tears were falling down her face but she made no move to hide them or wipe them away.

Collecting himself the best he could James turned Harry to face him.

"Harry, listen to me. He wasn't your father. Do you hear me? He wasn't your father. I'm your father I'm…" James realised that his words were useless. Harry wasn't coherent enough to listen to him or to understand him just now. Harry wasn't even looking at James anymore. He was staring at the ground, muttering words like 'trusted…killed…father' again and again.

Pushing down the hurt, James grabbed a hold of Harry and started walking up the stairs.

"Come on, Harry. You need your bed." James managed to say through the lump in his throat.

Nobody moved as James led Harry to his room. James carefully laid Harry onto the bed and then transformed Harry's clothes into pyjamas. He tucked him in and had to fight the hurt as Harry was still muttering 'killed my father, I killed my father' again and again even when his eyes were closed.

James conjured a bucket and placed it next to Harry's bed. He would need that during the night. James left and went back downstairs. Lily was sobbing as Remus and Sirius tried to comfort her wordlessly. Damien seemed to upset to say anything. He left for his room and didn't respond as James called to him.

James collapsed onto the sofa, head held in his hands. He had never thought that Harry continued to feel guilty about Voldemort. James was convinced that Harry had worked past his guilt.

James felt another wave of pain attack him as he remembered Harry's words, 'kill your own father'. In his subconscious mind, Harry still referred to Voldemort as his father. Harry still loved that monster! It was too much for James to bear.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Sirius.

"Prongs, mate…" Sirius didn't know what to say. He sat down next to James, not knowing how to comfort him.

"I told you."

James looked up to see Lily. She was not looking at him but was clearly addressing him. She sat, arms wrapped around herself.

"I told you to talk to him. I told you he was still hurting, but you didn't listen to me." Lily continued.

"Lily…" Remus started.

"No Moony! Don't stick up for him. This is James' fault!" Lily shouted.

"Stop blaming this on Prongs. What did he do?" Sirius asked at once.

"That's just the problem! He didn't do anything!" Lily yelled, now standing up from the chair.

"Everyone told you to talk to Harry. To help him work past his guilt. But you, you just ignored everyone! You didn't talk to Harry. You didn't let the Healers talk to Harry! You even stopped me from talking to him. You never supported me when I tried to talk to him. 'He's fine Lily. Just leave him alone. Don't bring it up!' Now look where that brought us! It's been five months and he's still torn up about it! He blames himself. Thinks that he's…he's…evil…" Lily broke down and sobbed as Harry's words cut into her. Harry was not evil, he was not cruel. He was good heartened and kind and it wasn't his fault that he had such a dark past.

"How could I help him?" James asked quietly.

"How can I help him to grieve over the loss of someone I hate with every fibre of my being?" James found his voice getting louder, even though he didn't mean for it.

"Tell me, Lily! Tell me how to comfort him. What to say to him? It's not as easy as you say! Harry feels guilty when he shouldn't. Harry regrets killing him. Killing the bastard that tore my family apart! How can I sympathise with him? I can't and I won't! That's why I didn't say anything to him because I knew I would only makes things worse!" James was fighting to keep his tears back, tears of frustration and pain.

Lily didn't reply, she was still standing in the same spot, fighting with her own guilt at not helping Harry.

"We have to do something, James. Harry can't go on like this! We know he's having nightmares of Voldemort. He can't sleep because of his guilt. He has to understand that what he did to Voldemort was not bad; it wasn't an act of evil. He has to understand!"

Remus, Sirius, James and Lily spent a few hours talking about Harry and what would be the best way to tackle his guilt. It all came down to communication. Getting Harry to open up and talk about his feelings.

"Easier said than done!" James muttered angrily. Why could they not understand that Harry wasn't going to open up? What Harry had said tonight was only because he was too drunk to realise it.

It was decided that all four of them were going to help Harry through this. Offer to talk to him, be there when he was good and ready to talk. What else could they do?

James hardly slept that night. Harry's words were swimming in his head all night. He had never thought he would have to suffer Harry addressing Voldemort as 'father' ever again. The fact that Harry said it with so much hurt and love just made it all the more painful.

xxx

Harry opened his eyes and then shut them again quickly. It hurt. His head, his eyes, everything hurt and he felt very, very sick. Blearily, Harry opened his eyes again and waited for his eyes to adjust to the morning light. He looked around to find himself in his bed. He sat up and had to fight the wave of nausea.

'Oh, damn! Why am I feeling so sick?' he asked himself. Only then did the events of yesterday unfold. Harry grimaced as he remembered the disastrous Christmas with the Weasleys'. Well, to be fair, Christmas was nice enough, it was the horrid talk he had overheard between Ginny and Charlie. He had run from there and hadn't stopped until he had put quite a distance between himself and the Burrow.

He had just been wandering around pointlessly, replaying the conversation again and again in his head. He found that he had come to a small muggle town. He headed towards the one place that was open today. The pub. He couldn't remember how much he had to drink. Judging from his ill feeling he must have drunk the place dry.

Harry held his throbbing head and tried to breathe away the nausea. Too late, he scrambled out of his bed and luckily found the bucket. He threw up quite violently. 'God, why did I have so much to drink!'

Harry shakily straightened up and closed his eyes to ease the pain in them. His eyes were burning. He opened them reluctantly and pulled his wand out to clean the mess he made.

It was only when he pulled out his wand from the pocket of his pyjamas to clean the bucket that he noticed two things. One, where did that bucket come from? and two, why was he wearing pyjamas, he didn't remember getting changed. Fighting down a wave of panic, Harry realised that this time his excessive drinking was to blame for his lack of memory.

Harry cleaned the bucket and climbed back into his bed. His parents must have left the bucket for him. Harry suddenly felt very nervous. He must have been a wreck when came home last night. Harry knew he talked a lot when he was drunk, one of the reasons why he never drank too much. He prayed he hadn't talked too much nonsense. He tried to fight the fog that clouded his mind to try and remember what he had said and what had happened last night. But it was too late, he was already drifting back to sleep.

It was midday before Harry woke up again. He felt a little better. He cautiously got up as not to aggravate his thumping headache. At least his eyes felt better. His stomach grumbled. He had not eaten anything since yesterday's lunch with the Weasleys. Harry forced himself not to think about that.

He got out of bed and headed downstairs. He really had to get some food into himslef. As he walked into the kitchen he saw his mum, dad and Damien sitting at the table, half way through lunch. Harry paused at the door. A sudden wave of shame and guilt washed over him. He had totally ruined yesterday for them. 'They must be so angry with me' he thought.

Half of him wanted to turn back and go back to his room. All thought of food had left him. He was just about to turn around when Lily spoke to him.

"You must be hungry. Come, sit down."

She got up and started preparing a plate for him. Harry came and sat down, not wanting to look at any of them directly. Why hadn't he thought about the consequences yesterday? Harry scoffed at his own thought. He never thought about the consequences of anything. That was what made him Harry.

He looked up as James started talking to him.

"You don't look to good. Are you feeling okay?"

"Still feel a bit sick but I'm okay." Harry responded.

"How much did you drink?" James asked as Lily set a plate of food in front of him.

Harry suddenly felt sick again as the smell of the food wafted up to him. Controlling the urge to retch, Harry answered.

"Too much."

Damien choked on his pasta but recovered. He gave Harry a smirk and continued with his lunch.

Harry picked up his fork but couldn't bring himself to actually eat anything. After playing with his food for a while, he pushed his plate away. Lily noticed but didn't comment. Instead she got up and left the room, returning with a small vial.

"Here" she said as she handed him the potion. Harry took it looking questioningly at her.

"It'll help with the hangover." She explained as she started cleaning the table.

Harry mentally thanked her and gulped the potion down in one go. It started working instantly. He felt much better. He noticed how quiet everyone was. Even Damien was quiet. He knew they were all upset.

"Um…about yesterday…" Harry started. James looked up at him and Harry saw a flash of pain cross his eyes.

"I'm sorry." Harry said quickly. He knew it was his fault but he still couldn't bring himself to apologise properly.

"I didn't mean to run out like that. I just…I had to get out, sorry." Harry finished awkwardly.

Damien quickly got up and started clearing away the rest of the dishes, letting his mum come and sit at the table with James.

"Who was it?" James asked. Harry looked up from the table, not understanding him.

"What?"

"The one who said all that stuff to you? Was it Bill? Or was it Percy?" James had been wondering about this last night. Bill and Percy seemed to be the most likely culprits.

Harry had to swallow the rising alarm in him. Did he do what he feared he might have done? Did he blurt out what he had overheard last night? He couldn't have repeated Charlie's words, could he?

"I…I don't understand." Harry said.

James closed his eyes thinking how to phrase his words.

"Who accused you of…of being…who blamed you for Voldemort?" James asked, cursing himself for not being able to ask the question properly.

Harry's face paled and he cursed under his breath. 'Great, this is just what I need!'

"What makes you think…?" Harry didn't finish

"You told us last night, when you came back from your drinking marathon." Lily answered.

Harry admitted defeat. So he had gone and opened his big mouth. Damn him for drinking too much!

"It's not important." Harry said, dismissing the whole topic.

"I think it is. Tell me who accused you." James said apparently not backing down.

"What difference does it make, who it was? Just forget about it. I talk a whole load of rubbish when I'm drunk. Don't pay any attention to it." Harry tried.

"It didn't sound like rubbish. You were really upset and…"

"And today I'm fine! Honestly mum, don't make a court case out of this. Just forget about it." Harry said firmly. His headache hadn't gone completely and this was just making it worse.

James and Lily shared a look that meant that this was how they had expected Harry to react.

"Fine, we'll drop it." James said.

"But you have to make it up to us for yesterday." James continued as soon as Harry had visibly relaxed.

Harry's slightly bloodshot eyes stared up at James in surprise. He sighed deeply before nodding his head.

"Yeah, I know. What do you want?" he asked.

James and Lily shared another glance before answering.

"To talk." they answered together.

"Talk about what?" Harry asked still not catching on.

"About you. About yesterday and why you were so upset." Lily explained.

Harry growled in annoyance.

"I thought you were going to drop this!" Harry said rubbing at his head.

"I want to know what was said to you. I want to know who it was that upset you for no reason." James continued.

"Nobody said anything to me! Why can't you just let things be?" Harry yelled, losing his patience.

"Because I just can't! I refuse to accept someone behaving like that with you. You were really upset and I want to know why!" James yelled back.

Harry got up suddenly from the table and moved towards the door.

"Harry, please…" Lily said as she and James both got up as well.

"I'm going to my room." Harry announced without turning back.

"Harry! Wait!" James yelled but he was too late. Harry had already left the kitchen.

He heard Harry's door slam shut. James and Lily both sat down in defeat.

"So much for talking to him." James growled out. Lily didn't answer him.

xxx

Damien waited for Harry to cool down before going to talk to him. Honestly his parents had no sense at all, attacking Harry like that with their questions. They could at least wait for Harry to be in a better mood.

Like always, Harry opened up to Damien. He told him about the argument he overheard between Ginny and Charlie.

"I was wondering why Charlie was so quiet. He's usually a great laugh." Damien told him.

"I guess that answers that question." he muttered to himself.

"Harry, I have to ask though. Why did you get so upset?" Damien asked after Harry had finished.

"I mean I understand that it must be hard to hear someone talking about you like that, but you usually don't give a damn about what someone says. Why did you get so upset over what a stranger said?" he asked.

Harry stared at the spot in front of him. He didn't answer right away, which Damien knew meant that Harry was choosing his words carefully.

"Do you what I hear every time someone talks about Voldemort death?" Harry asked, his eyes staring out in front of him, not looking at Damien.

"No" Damien answered, surprised at the question.

"I hear the underlying happiness that he's gone. I hear the gratefulness that Voldemort isn't here anymore. I can understand that. I don't kid myself, Damien. I always knew what he was. What he represented to the world. His 'Death Eaters' and the 'Dark Mark', everyone feared him. I didn't focus too much on that. He was a leader, a fighter and his purpose was one that no one really understood. That was why they feared him because they never understood him." Harry was saying this all without looking at Damien. As if it was somehow easier to say if he wasn't looking at him.

"When someone talks about his...his death, they say my name as if I am a hero." Harry laughed bitterly at this.

"They think that I killed him so that somehow makes me a good person."

"I know that I'm not a good person. I don't lie to myself. I've done things, my assignments…I'm not going to bury it all and pretend that it never happened." Harry's hands were clasped and it looked like he was using all the energy he had to keep going.

"Yesterday, when Charlie said all that stuff, he said it as it was. He didn't talk about me with pride or with a delusional image of me as the saviour of the world. He said everything as it was. I'm a murderer. I'm cruel and evil. I know that. I don't resent it. I never will. For once I heard someone talk about me truthfully."

Damien was about to argue but Harry didn't let him.

"But when he said what I did to Voldemort…he didn't say that I killed the evil Dark Lord or that I freed the world. He said that I killed him. The man that I had called my father. The one who had brought me up. No one has ever said that to me before. It was as if someone had taken my thoughts and said them out loud. I wasn't prepared for that. It threw me off and I couldn't stand being there anymore."

Damien was struggling to keep back his own emotions as Harry kept talking.

"Do you know the one thing that I was always very proud of? My loyalty. I would argue with Bella for hours that I was the most loyal one out of the lot. I would happily give my life for him. I always thought that I would die protecting him." the last words were almost whispered and Harry's gaze shifted to Damien.

"I never thought this would happen, Damy. I never thought I would turn against him like I did. Hearing Charlie say that I was untrustworthy, that I betrayed Voldemort...he was so brutally truthful. What he said was right. How am I supposed to fight that?"

Damien had moved from across the room and was kneeling in front of Harry.

"You can't think like that, Harry. You know that's not true. Charlie was being a jerk! He was talking rubbish. You did what you had to." But no matter what Damien said, Harry didn't accept it. He still claimed himself to be disloyal and not trustworthy.

Damien didn't break down until he reached the privacy of his own room. He had never thought Harry was beating himself up so much over Voldemort. If anything it was his fault! Harry only attacked Voldemort because he thought that Voldemort had killed Damien. But yet, Harry still loved Damien, more than anything. He was taking the blame solely on his own shoulders.

Damien knew he would have to do something, anything to fix this. He decided to talk to Hermione when he got back to Hogwarts. She would definitely know how to help Harry.

xxx

James and Lily tried but failed to talk to Harry about what had happened on Christmas. Damien didn't tell his parents about what Harry had confided to him. He knew they would only force Harry to talk to them and Harry clearly didn't want to.

The holidays went by quickly and before they knew it, they were back at Hogwarts. Ginny had rushed to Harry and had thrown her arms around him, hugging him tightly as soon as he stepped into the common room.

"I'm so sorry, Harry! God, I'm so sorry!" she said near to tears.

She had figured out the reason Harry had left and was too angry with Charlie to do anything about it. She knew enough about Harry to leave him alone so that he cooled down.

Harry reassured her that he was fine and that he wasn't upset, not with her anyway. The group of five sat in the crowded common room. Harry was fighting to stay awake. He had an awful time back home. He couldn't take anymore sleeping potion as he was on a break from them and had subsequently suffered nightmares. He had not slept at all and his whole body ached from his lack of rest.

"Hey, mate. You look like crap!" Ron joked as he sat next to him.

"Thanks" Harry joked.

"Seriously, Harry. Are you okay? You look…ill." Hermione said staring at him in concern.

"I'm fine. Just recovering from the cold. How was your skiing trip?" Harry asked nicely removing the focus of attention from himself. Hermione started explaining her holiday in full detail, letting Harry relax.

The next morning Harry was sitting in the Great Hall for breakfast. He was feeling a lot better, he had slept soundly last night. He didn't know if it was because he was so tired or if it was a result of being back at Hogwarts. He inwardly joked that it was Hermione's storytelling that had put him to sleep. That was the last thing he remembered.

Harry was staring at the Slytherin table. He was trying to see if Draco was back yet. He hadn't seen him yesterday at the returning feast. It worried him slightly.

After a few moments though, Draco Malfoy walked into the Hall, followed by his usual crowd of friends. Harry smiled despite himself. Draco looked at the Slytherin table with barely suppressed excitement. The Slytherins were pleased to see him again as well. They cheered loudly as he entered and made his way over to sit near the middle. It was apparent that no one knew of Draco's help in defeating Voldemort. If they had known that Severus and Draco had helped lead the Ministry to Voldemort, most of Slytherin would not want him back.

Harry found his gaze diverting to Dumbledore at the head table. He wondered how the old wizard did that. How he managed to manipulate the media so that certain facts were kept hidden. No one really knew what had happened to lead Voldemort into Hogsmeade that day. No one knew of Severus' and Draco's involvement or even Damien's for that matter.

Harry shook his head to clear away the images that had popped into his mind. Just as they were preparing to leave for their first class, the owls came swooping in, delivering all sorts of mail. As usual a brown owl came and delivered a copy of the Daily Prophet to Hermione. She dropped a Knut into the leather pouch and unrolled her copy. She froze as she stared at the front page. Suddenly the entire hall filled with an eerie silence.

Harry turned his head to look at his parents, sitting at the head table. They looked up from the paper, white faced and stared directly at Harry.

Harry didn't have to look at the paper to know what had happened. He didn't even have to register what Hermione was saying to him. He knew just by looking at his parents panic stricken faces.

The Dark Prince had attacked again.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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	15. Hogsmeade

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Well, here you are. As promised the next Chappie! Thanks for all the great reviews. Enjoy!!

**Chapter Fifteen**

It was dark in the chamber. Outside the moon and stars shone brightly, but their light seemed unable to penetrate the darkness that was engulfing the chamber. Lord Voldemort, the wizarding world's Dark Lord, stood with his back turned. His pale hands clasped tightly behind him. His red eyes were focused on the wall in front of him. He was fighting with all the strength within him to control his temper. He slowly turned around to look at the one Death Eater that was standing in his chamber.

Bella stood, shivering and trembling. Her arms were by her sides, fists clenched hard. Her head, as always in her master's presence, was bowed as she awaited her orders. Her breath was coming out raggedly, as if she was trying to stop herself from crying.

Lord Voldemort studied Bella carefully before speaking.

"You should be thankful he's gone, Bella. If he were here, I would have killed him myself." He hissed.

Bella looked up slowly, her eyes were filled with tears but she didn't let even one drop. She stared at her master, unable to utter a word.

Without saying anything more, Lord Voldemort turned and left, leaving Bella standing alone, fighting to stop the tears from falling.

Harry woke up with a start. He had to take a few moments to recover. He had never dreamt of Bella before. His nightmares were always about Voldemort. Usually they involved Voldemort reaching out to Harry, just before being engulfed by flames. A few times he had dreams that started off from a memory. Memories of just Voldemort and Harry by themselves. They were always a lot harder to recover from. Seeing how things used to be between them just made it harder to accept that he had killed him.

Harry got up and crept to the bathroom. He splashed his face with some cold water. It always helped to get rid of any images from his dreams that lingered behind.

Harry looked in the mirror, focusing on his bloodshot eyes, tired face and slightly pale complexion. His dreams were getting worse.

"Bella"

It was a shock to see her after so long. Why did he dream of her? And what was that dream all about? He didn't remember ever seeing Bella that upset or crying. Harry wondered how he had seen something that was obviously a memory not involving him. He wasn't there with them. No one was there except for Voldemort and Bella.

Harry didn't want to think about the dream but he couldn't help it. It was the first time he had seen a memory that wasn't his. But Harry knew, even if he wasn't there, the dream was about him. Voldemort had been talking about him. What was it he had said?

'If he were here, I would have killed him myself.'

With a shudder Harry remembered another memory he had seen. His own ten year old self, trying to escape with Peter Pettigrew. Before Voldemort had obliviated him he had taunted Harry saying that he wasn't to worry, things would go back to the way they were. When Harry had pulled away from him and said that he would one day learn the truth about him and then he would leave him Voldemort had said the same thing to him then as well.

'Rest assured Harry, if that day ever comes, I'll kill you myself'

Harry knew without a doubt that Voldemort had told Bella the same thing once he learned that Harry was destroying his Horcruxes. That memory he had just witnessed was probably after Voldemort had learned his Horcruxes were being destroyed. It was probably the moment Voldemort had decided that Harry had no point of return. He was to be killed.

With a deep sigh, Harry made his way back to bed. There was so much hatred in Voldemort's voice when he had spoken. The venom in his voice was more disturbing than what he had actually said.

Harry didn't sleep again. The images of the dream were stuck in his mind. He kept reliving it again and again. He wondered how on earth he had seen it. Was Voldemort trying to torture him some more? Sending him memories that showed how much he hated Harry?

Rubbing his tired eyes, Harry gave up on sleep and made his way down to the common room. It was the weekend and Harry had a few hours to himself before mostly everyone got up and headed to Hogsmeade. It was Valentine's Day today and happened to be a Hogsmeade weekend as well.

Harry smiled at the memory of being asked out by Ginny. She didn't waste any time in securing a date with him. Apparently she didn't want to repeat the incident like the Ball. Harry settled on one of the chairs and closed his eyes as he rested. He really wanted to go back to sleep. He knew though that he would dream of Voldemort again so he fought the sleep away and opened his eyes.

There was an old copy of the daily prophet lying on the table next to him. Harry picked it up and looked at the picture on the front page. His eyes studied the blurry image before him. The third attack of the Dark Prince!

Harry growled in annoyance. The day after they had came back from the Christmas break was the second attack. Last week he had attacked for the third time. Three times this person had attacked and gotten away easily. This last time, they only managed to get a picture of him while he was flying away.

Harry threw the copy away from himself. How could they not catch him? This person single handily attacked and got away easily. It frustrated Harry to no end how incompetent Aurors could be. Harry tried not to think to deeply at the cause of his frustration. It wasn't only the Aurors uselessness that frustrated him but his own lack of memories. Each time these attacks happened he couldn't remember the night before. After the first two attacks, Harry put it down to nothing more than a bizarre coincidence. He had been extremely tired both times and his lack of sleep wasn't helping much. But after the attack last week, Harry had to admit something wasn't right.

But surely someone would notice if Harry was doing this? Ron had insisted that he was in the common room, dozing off to sleep or in the dorms asleep in his bed at the time of these attacks. Was Ron lying? No, why would he?

And it wasn't like every time he had lost the memory of the previous night, the next morning there was an attack. Just two days ago Harry had woken up to realise he couldn't remember the night before. He hurried down to Breakfast and had snatched the copy of the newspaper, even before Hermione had touched it. He had been so relieved to see that there had been no attacks. Hermione had looked at him worriedly but Harry didn't bother explaining.

Harry tried to trace back his steps to figure out what he had done on those nights. The first night he had been at the Ball. He was truly exhausted that night what with all the dancing and every thing. Later on they had spent a good three hours in the common room just relaxing. The second night was when they had returned from the Christmas break. Again, he was shattered. His lack of sleep for the past two weeks had taken its toll on him. He couldn't remember much of that night. Last week, it was his final Duelling club detention. Everyone had come to see that. Again, he was tired to the bone that night.

He was glad he had that finished. Last week had actually been fun. He had at last been able to duel, properly. Tonks and her group were gone and it had been Kingsley Shacklebolt with a new group of Aurors. Harry had loved every minute of it, duelling with Kingsley and finally being able to do something, other than standing around and looking like an idiot. Kinglsey had suggested that Harry continue helping them but Harry had been quick to reject his offer. 'One torture at a time!' he had joked.

Harry liked Kingsley. He was different from the usual Aurors. He was actually someone with talent. That was rare for an Auror. Harry sniggered at his own thought. His dad and Godfathers wouldn't be so pleased to hear that. He knew that his dad was actually quite good. If he wasn't so arrogant he would do better. Sirius was too fast for his own good. Remus, well, he didn't know. He had never seen Remus duelling. He figured he would probably be the best out of the three. He was much calmer and would probably spend a few seconds thinking about what curse to use, thus, being more successful.

Harry realised he had been side tracked, so got back to his original trail of thought. So that was the last three nights. All those nights he had been really, really tired and had fallen asleep probably quite soon after going to bed. The problem was he couldn't remember _going_ to bed. He was sure Ron would tell him if someone had to help him into bed. That would be so embarrassing that Ron would take no time in taunting him. Two days ago, Harry had started his break from the Dreamless Sleep potion again. He had slept without having nightmares that first night, thus waking up and panicking at the loss of memory the previous night. That was the only night though. Ever since he had been woken up with nightmares. It was times like this that Harry wished he could just ignore all the consequences and take some sleeping potion, even just to catch a few hours sleep. But he knew that the addiction to the sleeping potion was very harmful. He would get sick and the potion would stop working. No, that wasn't a risk he was willing to take.

Harry heard the sounds of the other students getting up. 'Finally', he thought as he saw a sleepy looking Damien walk down the steps. Someone he could talk to so that he could distract himself from these disturbing thoughts.

xxx

The air was crisp and cool as Harry walked down to the village of Hogsmeade. The entire village was dressed up for Valentine's Day. There were little figures dressed like cupid flying around, sprinkling rose petals onto the people that were walking in the streets. The streets were already covered with bright flower petals. Harry shook some of the petals out of his hair and looked up at them, frowning.

"That's a waste!" he mumbled but stopped as Ginny giggled.

"What?" he asked.

"You're so romantic!" Ginny said sarcastically.

Harry smiled despite himself and wrapped an arm around her as they walked towards the shops.

"I can't be all that bad. You're still with me." Harry commented.

Ginny smirked at him but before she could reply, something caught her eye and the smile slipped off her face. Harry followed her gaze and saw a large group of red heads standing a few feet away. Harry saw the entire Weasley family standing near a joke shop. The twins were missing; Harry figured it was their shop the rest were standing in front off. The reason for Ginny's abrupt mood change was clear. Charlie was standing there, glaring at her. The rest of the Weasley's were admiring the shop, and the products in the window. Charlie however wasn't paying the slightest of attention to the shop. He was too busy glowering at Ginny.

Harry chanced a glance at Ginny. She was looking back at him just as fiercely. Harry kept walking with his arm around Ginny. That only seemed to infuriate the over protective brother.

"Harry, let's go in here." Ginny said, pointing to a Quidditch shop.

Harry knew Ginny was on the team and probably wanted to go in there for a genuine reason, but he couldn't help wonder if she just wanted to get away from Charlie's glare.

He went in the shop and let Ginny have a look around. He himself wasn't that bothered with Quidditch supplies. After spending a few minutes in there, they left. Ginny's mood had brightened again and they were happily chatting. Harry caught a glance of Ron walking with Hermione; she was holding what looked suspiciously like a heart shaped box of chocolates. It hit Harry that he probably should buy Ginny something as well. But what? Chocolates, probably. Every girl likes chocolates, don't they?

Harry was busy thinking about what he could get her when a small voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Would you like a rose, sir?"

Harry looked for the source of the voice and found a little girl, dressed in a red cloak, holding a basket filled with single red roses. Harry looked at the little girl and found a smile tugging at his lips. She was so cute! She couldn't be more than five years old. Her blond hair was falling in cute little curls and she was looking at Harry with big blue eyes. The girl's older sister came and stood next to her. Harry recognised her at once. She was a Hufflepuff seventh year, Sara…something. He couldn't remember her surname. She was very similar to the little girl. It was blatantly obvious they were sisters.

Sara smiled warmly at Harry and placed a hand on her younger sister's shoulder.

"It's a Valentine Day project. All the young children living in Hogsmeade are part of it. Bella's picked the roses all by herself." She praised.

Harry's heart skipped several beats. Bella! The little girl's name was Bella.

He looked at the young child again. She was standing there, a big smile on her face, eyes fixed on Harry. Harry returned the smile and reached into his pocket to take out his money. He bought a rose for Ginny. Bella smiled brightly as Harry handed her the money.

"Thanks you!" she said and turned to walk away. Sara thanked Harry as well and led her sister away.

Harry noticed that there were a few children dressed in red cloaks, carrying baskets of flowers. 'How did I not notice that?' he asked himself.

He handed the rose to Ginny who took it, a blush rapidly forming on her cheeks.

"Thanks, Harry." she said and looked away.

Harry didn't even notice she was blushing. He was too caught up in his thoughts. He had dreamt of Bella just that morning and now he saw a little girl with the same name. It was a coincidence of course, but it still made Harry's heart beat painfully fast. Ever since her funeral, Harry had forced himself to not think about her. It would only make Harry spiral into depression. His guilt for causing her destruction had not left him yet.

He felt a warm hand slip into his and turned to look at Ginny. She was looking at him worriedly.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Harry nodded and continued walking. They ran into Damien and Meno. Harry raised an eyebrow at Damien as he was holding the girls hand. Damien diverted his gaze and quickly let go of Meno's hand. They saw Ron and Hermione heading to the Three Broomsticks. They followed them and caught up with them at the door. All six went into the pub. They found themselves inside an overcrowded pub.

"Busy, huh?" Damien commented as he forced his way through the crowd.

Harry looked at the pub in detail. This whole place had burned to the ground last year. The Daywalkers had set it on fire to force the people out. It had been renovated recently. It actually looked a lot nicer than before.

Harry caught a glimpse of his mum and dad sitting next to Sirius, Remus and Kingsley. He looked around and found that there were quite a few Aurors around, having drinks and chatting animatedly with the others.

"What are the Aurors doing here?" Harry wondered aloud.

"I think that should answer your question." Hermione said as she pointed to a large group of people crowded around a table.

Harry looked over and spotted the Minister of Magic sitting with a crowd, laughing and drinking. The Aurors with him were obviously for his protection.

Harry looked away, pushing down his annoyance.

"Great, now I've seen his face, things can only get worse!" he muttered darkly.

Harry had no idea how bad things were going to get.

xxx

James watched as Harry sat down with Damien. His heart fluttered as he spotted a rose in Ginny's hand. He smiled, 'that was nice' he thought to himself. At least Harry was much better at dating than he was.

"James! James! Are you listening?"

James pulled his eyes away from his son to look at Remus.

"Sorry, what?" he said.

Remus gave him a disapproving look.

"James, we're having a serious discussion here. Pay attention!" He reprimanded.

James nodded his head and got back to the depressing topic of the Dark Prince.

"I was saying to Sirius that after this third attack, things have gone out of control. He's killed a total of thirty people! And we don't even know how many he's injured, let alone made homeless. I personally don't think the Ministry is doing enough!"

James sighed deeply.

"What can they do? We don't have anything on him. He doesn't leave any trail behind and his attacks have been random. He's not stolen anything or come to kill a specific person. It seems he attacks only to destroy and kill as many as possible."

"Can we please talk about something else? Just for today. I don't want to sit here and think about him!" Lily said, looking quite upset.

James wrapped an arm around her.

"Yeah, I don't think us talking about him is going to do us any good anyway." James said.

Remus opened his mouth to say something but changed his mind. Sirius got up to fight the crowd for another round of drinks.

xxx

Harry was immersed deeply in their conversation. They had found a table near the door. They had squeezed in next to Parvati, Lavender and their group of friends. Harry ignored the looks he got as he sat with Ginny.

The door opened and even more people poured in.

"Goodness, surely more people can't be coming in. There's no more space!" Hermione complained.

Harry looked over to see who had come in. He only spotted one thing. Nigel. Nigel sitting on Neville's shoulders, looking around at all the people in the busy pub. Frank and Alice were coming inside just behind them talking with Arthur and Molly Weasley.

Harry watched in fascination as Nigel scanned the room. His eyes rested on Harry and the child's face lit up.

"Lex!!" he yelled and made to scramble of Neville.

Neville carefully lifted the excited child and placed him onto the ground. Nigel ran through the crowd straight towards Harry. He jumped into Harry's lap and hugged him fiercely. Parvati and the rest of the table stared at Harry as he hugged the small boy affectionately. Nigel pulled away from him and looked at him, a cute serious look on his face.

"You came back." He said to him.

Harry was initially stunned at how clear he was speaking now. 'God, Harry, he's three now!' he mentally reprimanded himself.

"Came back from where?" Harry asked.

He realised what Nigel meant a few seconds later. The last time Nigel had seen Harry, he was in Riddle Manor running from Voldemort. Nigel's face clouded with fear.

"From the Shadow." he said in a near whisper.

Harry had to fight to keep his expression clear of pain. He smiled at the little boy.

"Yeah, Nigel. I came back." He reassured him.

"Hello, Harry."

Harry looked up to see Frank and Alice standing before him. Harry shook Frank's outstretched hand.

"How are you?" Alice asked as Nigel climbed back into her arms.

"I'm fine." Harry answered.

He noticed that Neville had decided to hang back while the rest of his family greeted him. Harry looked away from him and spent a few minutes talking to Frank and Alice.

Frank turned to go and order some drinks. He carried Nigel with him, who was still staring at Harry, confused as to why he was being addressed as 'Harry'.

Alice sat down next to him.

"He's still afraid." She said simply.

Harry cursed under his breath. He did not want to have this conversation here. He had refused to talk to Frank and Alice because he didn't want to talk about what had happened in Riddle Manor. It wouldn't do anyone any good.

"We had a Healer check him out, he's afraid of the dark. The Healer seems to think its normal behaviour. All kids are afraid of the dark. But, Nigel's more afraid of…of him." a look of deep distress flitted over her face.

"He refers to him as the Shadow. Nigel asked about you. He wanted to know if the Shadow hurt you..." she went on.

Harry could feel his face heat up in anger. He really didn't want to talk about this.

"Alice, can we do this another time." he said, careful to keep his expression as blank as he could.

Alice looked at him, studying his face.

"Okay, but I do want to talk to you. There's something I need to say."

Harry only nodded his head to show that he had understood. Mentally he was vowing not to speak to her at all. Alice left to go and join her sons and husband.

The noise in the pub was growing to an unbearable level. You couldn't hear what the person next to you was saying. Harry struggled to make sense of what Damien was saying.

"This is ridiculous! We should leave." Ron said after asking Hermione to repeat what she said three times.

"No, I like it here, plus everywhere else will be just as busy. Lets have one more drink then we'll go!" Hermione suggested.

"I'll get them!" Harry offered and got up to get the drinks.

As he turned around to go back to his table with the six bottles he came face to face with a very pissed off looking Charlie Weasley.

Harry looked at him blankly.

"Excuse me." Harry said as he tried to go around him but Charlie blocked him.

Harry was so surprised with his bold action that he fell back to stare at him.

"So, have you been enjoying yourself these past few weeks, Potter?" Charlie asked. A very ugly look in his eyes.

"What?" Harry asked with an exasperated sigh.

"You must think yourself very clever. Carrying out these attacks and then fooling everyone into thinking you're innocent."

Harry kept his expressionless mask firmly in place, even though what Charlie had said caused a spark of fury inside him. It was really busy so no one noticed the conversation between the two boys.

"Tell me, do you get some sort of sick pleasure in doing this?" Charlie asked eyes filled with rage.

Harry moved away, not wanting to hit him, not here anyway. Unfortunately Charlie wasn't finished yet. He moved to block Harry again.

"Stay away from my sister, Potter!" Charlie threatened.

Harry met Charlie's eyes; a cold fury filled both sets of eyes.

"Why don't you tell your sister to stay away from me?" Harry taunted.

Charlie's face reddened, the famous Weasley temper was flaring up.

"She may be stupid enough not to see you for what you really are. But I'm not blind! Stay away from her!" Charlie hissed.

"You may not be blind, but you sure are stupid. If you know what I am, why are you threatening me?" Harry asked, directing all his annoyance into his voice.

"I'm not afraid of you, Potter." Charlie said a stupid look of pride on his face.

"Well good for you." Harry mocked.

That was probably too much for the Dragon tamer. He reached out and grabbed Harry by the collar as Harry made to leave again.

Harry's patience snapped as he felt the hands grab him. The bottles in Harry's hands were clutched so tight in was a wonder they didn't break.

Charlie was talking to him but Harry couldn't hear him over the roar of blood in his ears.

Harry looked down at the hands holding him and then looked Charlie dead in the eyes. The next second Charlie let go of him and pulled his hands back as if they had been burned. A look of pain lit his face and he looked at Harry with alarm. How did he do that?

"I'd be careful, Mr Weasley. You certainly don't want to do something you'll regret!" Harry hissed in barely suppressed anger.

"So, now you're openly threatening me?" Charlie asked, recovering a little.

Harry smirked and leaned in closer to him.

"I don't waste time threatening people." Harry told him.

Charlie seemed to lose some of his nerve as he saw Harry's eyes darken a shade or two.

Harry turned to go but stopped and turned back to him.

"And if I were you, I would leave Ginny alone. She's the only reason you're still left standing after what you've said to me. You should be grateful to her."

Harry turned and left, not sparing another glance in his direction.

When he arrived at his table Ron was just getting up.

"Finally! I was wondering were you had gone!"

"The bar was busy" Harry said as he put the bottles onto the table.

They spent the next half an hour just drinking and talking. Harry didn't let himself think about Charlie. He wasn't worth it. He didn't even bother looking in his direction.

He saw Alice taking Nigel outside. It was probably getting too noisy for him. Frank and Neville were sitting with a group of Aurors seemingly deep in discussion.

Harry moved to get another round of drinks when there was a sudden explosion outside. The ground shook and most cried out in shock and surprise.

Harry wasted no time, he moved towards the window as did most of the Aurors. Damien and Ron had shot from their chairs and had raced to the window. They looked out onto a dreadful sight.

Men with dark cloaks were out in the streets. Their pale faces twisted with glee as they blasted the buildings, forcing the residents out onto the streets. Harry surveyed the scene, his eyes taking in the large number of these men. There were probably around three hundred of them, all dressed in black. Damien looked at Harry in panic.

"Are they…?"

"Yes." Harry answered before Damien could finish.

Harry looked out at the horrifying sight.

Hogsmeade was surrounded by Daywalkers again.

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Okay, please don't get upset with the cliffie. I try really, really hard but my evil alter ego wins! Please review so that I can get the next chapter out soon. You all wanted action so I'm going to give it to you. LOL!! Please review. Cheers!!


	16. The attack

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks for all the great reviews! Here's the next instalment. It's a long chapter, hope you enjoy it!

WARNING: This will contain a lot of violence and some truly disturbing material. Please be warned.

**Chapter Sixteen**

The moment everyone realised who had attacked them, pandemonium broke out. There were screams and shouts every where, asking what they should do. The Aurors sprung into action at once and tried to apparate the Minister out of danger. That was when they realised that there were anti apparation wards placed around them. It was something the Daywalkers had placed. It was different to the wards wizards used. It was different but served the same purpose. They were trapped, unable to apparate away.

Harry reached out with his own magic. He could feel the walls around him as he tried to test and see if he could break through them. He found that he could easily push the wards away so that he could leave. Problem was that he could leave but no one else could. If he tried to take someone with him, the Daywalkers wards would hold them back but allow Harry through. That wasn't really an option for him. He was stuck here with the rest of them.

He looked around him as the Aurors ordered everyone to get back from the windows and gather in the middle. The owner of the pub, Madam Rosemerta was looking very faint. She had already lost her pub once to these creatures. She didn't want to go through all that again.

No one was listening to the Aurors so James and Sirius stood up onto the table and shot out red sparks from their wands to get everyone's attention.

"Please! Everyone, calm down!" James shouted. Most of the people in the pub quietened down to listen to him.

"Remain calm. We know that these attackers are vampires! They cannot enter without permission! You are safe inside here!" Sirius told them.

Harry watched as chaos broke out again.

"That didn't work last time…!"

"They set the whole place on fire! They'll draw us out to them…!"

"We'll be a waiting target for them…!"

James and Sirius set out more red sparks from their wands in order to calm them down.

"Please! Remain calm! Panicking like this will solve nothing!" James shouted again.

At this everyone quietened down.

"The Aurors will handle the situation. Until we can bring down whatever wards have been placed here, you all have to remain inside. We'll make sure you all are safe!" James continued.

Harry had to admit that when his dad was in full Auror mode, he was quite impressive. He hadn't really noticed that about him before. 'Probably because you were too busy fighting him!' a voice echoed in his mind. Harry pushed those particularly disturbing memories aside. He didn't ever want to remember that!

Fudge was visibly shaken. It was obvious he had never been in a life or death situation before. He didn't know what to do. He was standing near the middle, white faced, clutching his wand like it was his very life source.

Madam Rosmerta shakily walked over to James and said something to him, her voice shaking badly. A look of relief spread on his face, he turned to the occupants again.

"Madam Rosmerta had just informed me that the Pub's walls and roof have impenetrable charms placed on it. Nothing can penetrate it. It is fire proof, so you all are safe."

Everyone sighed with relief at that information. Some colour returned to Fudge's face.

"We have to get as many people to come here, as possible. It's probably the only safe building!" Kingsley shouted to the other Aurors as they rushed outside.

Frank was among the first ones to rush outside. He left Neville standing there with strict instructions to stay inside.

Harry met his dad's eyes as he made to leave. James hurried over to him. Harry waited for his dad to ask him to join them in the fight. Everyone knew from the last attack, how well Harry could fight these beasts.

James looked at Harry, worry evident in his eyes.

"Stay inside, Harry"

Harry was shocked at that. His dad didn't want him to fight? But why? He saw the answer in James' eyes. He was afraid, afraid that Harry might get hurt like he had last time. Harry opened his mouth to speak but then changed his mind. If his dad didn't want to get him involved in this mess then that was fine. It wasn't his fight anyway.

James turned to leave but was stopped suddenly by Harry. Harry's hand wrapped around his dad's wrist, stopping him from leaving. Before James could ask what he was doing, Harry placed his hand on the tip of James' wand. As James watched, the tip of his wand changed to a pointed end. He looked up at Harry, amazed with the nonverbal spell.

"Straight through the heart." Harry whispered to him.

James smiled at his son's instructions and felt the urge to hug him. He fought it though, Harry didn't like hugs.

"Keep everyone inside" James whispered back and then left.

He shouted at all the other Aurors to do the same thing to their wands.

Harry watched, dread filling him. Hopefully the Aurors would remember not to use magic to fight them. That was useless. He anxiously watched the fierce battle outside.

Once the Aurors left, the remaining occupants looked at each other fearfully. Harry looked around at the people left. There were quite a few Hogwarts students. Fifth, sixth and seventh years mostly. His heart jumped as he released that Draco was not here. He approached the window and saw the Daywalkers fiercely attacking, burning the other buildings. Unfortunately, not all the building had impenetrable charms placed on them.

The Aurors were fighting well but were horribly outnumbered. They had learned from the past though, and attacked the vampires with fireball hexes and when they could, they stabbed them through the heart using their pointed wooden wands.

The streets were filed with screaming people. Harry watched in morbid horror as the Daywalkers attacked and started feeding on the helpless people. The Aurors were trying but couldn't protect everyone.

Harry turned around to see Damien looking out at the scene. He looked like he was going to throw up very soon. Harry pulled Damien to the side and sat him down. His eyes met a worried looking Lily and he gestured to her that Damien was okay.

"Stay here." he instructed.

He was faced with an ill looking Hermione next.

"Harry, we should do something!"

Harry felt torn. A part of him wanted to go and help. He didn't want his dad or Sirius or Remus to get hurt. But another part of him, the darker side to him wanted to stand back and watch. Let them deal with the chaos and the killings. It was the Ministry after all! They claimed to be able to deal with situations like this so let them deal with it.

The screams outside intensified and the horrid sounds of vampires feeding made everyone shudder.

The students watching out of the windows, let out a collective scream as two Daywalkers headed straight towards the Three Broomsticks. They scrambled to get away from the window. The two Daywalkers approached the pub and threw the small triangular devices at the walls. The impenetrable charms came into full force and repelled the devices, saving the pub from catching on fire. The vampires looked confusedly at the building. They figured out what had happened and let out an angry hiss at the protection. They tried again and again, but couldn't get past the charms. Angrily they headed for the door and blasted it open. The force of it threw the door of its hinges. Everyone screamed as the two Daywalkers glared at the occupants.

"Make it easier for yourselves and come outside!" one of them growled.

Harry already had his wand in his hand. He had figured what the Daywalkers were going to do. The walls and roof may have charms placed on it to stop any attacks, but the doorway didn't. It couldn't have any charms on it because that would stop everyone from coming inside. The doorway was now open and free. They could chuck whatever fire bomb they liked inside and it would force all of them outside.

His eyes met Hermione's and he pointed his wand at himself. He slowly and discreetly motioned it up and down his body giving Hermione a pointed look. She nodded to him understanding what they had to do. She looked at the other three and quietly whispered to them. All of them had taken their wands out as discreetly as possible.

"Leave from here! You can't come inside and you can't draw us out either! Just leave us alone!" Fudge had found his voice and foolishly challenged the vampires.

Harry had to bite his tongue to stop himself from first cursing the stupid Minister. Honestly, couldn't he just keep his mouth shut!

The two vampires smiled evilly at him and both took out the fire devices.

"We'll just have to put your theory to the test then, won't we, Minister!"

Both of them threw the triangular device inside, at that same time, Harry shouted, "NOW!"

The five of them, instantly leapt towards the door, Ron and Hermione on one side, Ginny and Damien on the other. Harry stood directly in front of the door. The five of them threw up their full body shields, successfully forming a multi coloured bubble. The bubble formed around the five teens and because they were standing near the door it blocked it, achieving the desired effect. The doorway was now blocked; the two devices hit the wall of their bubble and got thrown back at the two stunned looking vampires. They caught the device and looked dumbfounded at the bubble. They spotted Harry standing directly before them and growled angrily at him.

The five teens stood with their protective shield surrounding the doorway. Nothing the vampires threw would get past them. The Daywalkers reluctantly retreated back, eyes still fixed on Harry.

When they left, the five teens let down their shields.

Ron gave Harry a shaky smile.

"I bet you're glad you taught us that now, aren't' you?" he said.

Harry laughed and gave Ron a pat on the back.

"Good work, Mr Weasley." he teased. Harry levitated the door to go back into place. He muttered a quick 'Repero' to fix the broken door. It wasn't perfect but it blocked the doorway at least.

The people inside the pub looked at the five teens, dumbfounded. Lily was the first to snap out of the stupor and marched up to her sons. She hugged both of them, as if to make sure that they were still in one piece.

"It's not a big deal mum, nothing we haven't done before…" Damien started but clamped his mouth shut at realising what he just said.

Lily gave him a harsh look before turning to glare at Harry.

"What" he shrugged.

Molly was next to hug Ginny, Ron and Hermione as well.

"Oh my Goodness, what were you thinking? What if that spell didn't work? You all could have died!" she cried.

"Mum, if we didn't do that spell, we _all_ would have _definitely_ died." Ron explained.

Harry's eyes met Charlie's and saw that he was looking at Harry with such a deep seated hatred it made Harry want to look away. He didn't understand him. Why was he glaring at him now? As far as Harry could tell, he had just saved his neck along with the rest of them.

Charlie marched up to them and reached out to grab Ron. Harry first thought he had come to take away Ginny. He was surprised that it was Ron he was after. He pulled Ron into a corner and started arguing with him. Harry looked away; he didn't have time to worry about him.

"…so now he's teaching you things! What else has he been _teaching_ you?!" Charlie's angry words drifted back to Harry.

"Oh sod off Charlie! You're being an idiot again! Just lay off Harry, understand!" Ron angrily retorted.

Harry couldn't help but smile at hearing Ron defending him. Ron soon walked away from a fuming Charlie and came to stand next to Harry, holding his wand in a tight fist.

The door suddenly banged open again. Harry already had his wand out but stopped as he saw an Auror carrying a severely injured woman in his arms. He stumbled inside and laid the bleeding woman onto one of the tables.

Lily was by her side at once followed by Rosmerta.

"Oh God!" Lily exclaimed as she saw the bite wound on the woman's neck.

The Auror spoke directly to Rosmerta.

"We have to bring the injured here! We can't apparate and this building is the only one that is somewhat safe! We're trying to get all the others here as well!"

Rosmerta nodded her head and looked at the dying woman on her table.

"Do what you can for her!" he said and hurried back outside.

Rosmerta looked mortified.

"What can I do? I don't have anything that will help!" she shrieked in panic.

Lily sprung into action.

"Rosmerta, get some clean cloths and some boiling water. You should have a first aid potions box. Get it!"

Rosmerta did as she was told and brought Lily all she needed. Lily started working on the poor woman straight away. Lily was no Healer, but she knew enough basics to help stop the blood loss and keep the wounded area clean.

Within a few seconds, more injured people were brought in by the Aurors and a large group of third year students rushed in from outside. They were terribly panicked but unhurt.

Lily reached into the first aid box to take out some more pain relief potion to give to the injured man lying before him. Her hand felt around the box but there was nothing in there. She looked at the box and picked it up. It was empty.

"No! we couldn't have run out! We need more! Oh God!"

She looked at the man lying before her. He was in so much pain. What could she do? She took out her wand and gathered all her strength. She had to stun him! That would probably be very painful in his current condition, but what else could she do? He was convulsing in sheer agony. A large chunk was missing from his neck!

With tears in her eyes she pointed the wand at him. Before she could cast the stunning hex on him, a hand reached out and stopped her. She looked over and saw Harry standing next to her.

"I have to. He's in too much pain. If he's unconscious he won't feel any pain." She explained.

Harry looked at the man and his eyes met the injured man's. Without saying a word, Harry reached into his robes pocket and pulled out a small box. Wandlessly he enlarged the box and placed it next to him mum.

Lily had seen Harry with this box before. Sirius had returned it to Harry after his trial. Harry always carried it with him. She opened the box and found a supply of potions inside. She stared at the potions, eyes wide with surprise. Harry was giving his own supply of potions to help. She looked up to thank him but Harry had already gone back towards the door, standing before it to stop any attacks.

She smiled at her son's compassion. He would always help but Merlin forbid anyone got the chance to actually thank him for it. She slipped some pain relief potion into the man before her, sighing with relief as the man's face relaxed.

Most of the older students were all helping doing what they could for the injured and helping to calm down the younger students.

"We can't keep this up! There's no more space!" Janice, a sixth year Ravenclaw cried out as another flood of people rushed inside.

They were terribly cramped. Harry suddenly realised something. Cursing himself for not thinking about this sooner, he pointed his wand at the table and chairs next to him. He uttered a shrinking charm and the table and chairs shrunk down to a doll house size. Harry picked up the shrunken furniture and placed it behind the bar. The other seventh year students that were watching Harry followed his lead and began to shrink all the furniture, leaving a few tables for the injured. Soon the place was much better, but still a bit cramped.

"Rosmerta, do you have a cellar?" Lily asked as she tried to stop a young man from bleeding to death.

"Um…yes." The owner replied, looking perplexed at the strange question.

Lily turned to look at the students and the other occupants.

"Everyone, please listen! We need more space, especially for the injured! Please head down to the cellar to stay out of the way, Rosmerta will show you the way!"

Rosmerta looked at Lily, her eyes showing how impressed she was with her logical thinking.

"I have a few rooms upstairs as well, we can use them!" she said, a little colour returning to her face.

Soon the place cleared up, most went to the cellar and a few, like the Minister headed to the rooms upstairs. The five teens, however refused to leave. They had to stay next to the door, in case their shield was needed. Harry was keeping his eyes fixed to the window, watching the battle rage on. They were losing! The Daywalkers were killing the people outside, feeding from them and then throwing their bodies to the side unceremoniously. He shut his eyes as he saw another young woman fall victim to them. 'It's not my fight, it's not my fight. These are Aurors! I won't fight alongside them, I won't!' he kept repeating to himself.

The battle raged on outside, a few times Daywalkers tried to attack the pub, but the five teens were quick to throw up the shields, blocking the doorway and protecting the pub. The place was now filled with the injured and dying people. Lily, Molly and a few other people were attending to them. Charlie was helping along with Neville. Harry watched, as Neville helped his mum, in silence. He had never actually heard Neville talk to anyone since the day Nigel and Ginny got captured. He brushed the thought away. It didn't matter anyway.

Damien was looking outside, watching for any attacks on the pub. He suddenly let out a strangled yell.

"Oh God! Harry!"

Harry rushed to him, looking out at what Damien had seen. His heart suddenly stopped at the sight.

Alice was running, Nigel in her arms. Frank had been at her side, trying to get her to the pub, to safety but three Daywalkers attacked at the same time. The sight of Nigel was too tempting for them and the three vampires lunged at Frank, ripping him away from his wife and son.

Harry didn't want to see anymore, he ran to the door and threw it open, stepping outside in the blood covered streets. He didn't care anymore. The Aurors couldn't beat them. No Auror would get to Alice in time. He had to help. He wasn't going to let Nigel get hurt. He wouldn't let that happen to him. Harry didn't realise it at first that someone had rushed out with him. He didn't realise that someone was running alongside him. He caught a glimpse of him out from the corner of his eye. Harry turned his head to see Neville running along with him. Their eyes met and Harry saw that look in his eyes. The same look Harry had seen the day Nigel was taken by Voldemort. Fear! Fear of losing someone dear to you.

Harry and Neville raced towards Alice as she struggled to fight of the vampires but keeping a strong grip on Nigel. Harry was only a few steps away when three vampires jumped in his path. Harry didn't stop running. He fired a fireball hex at them, but they easily dodged it. Neville was blocked as well and the two boys had to stop in their tracks. They had no option but to fight them first. Harry pointed his wand at the vampires, watching as their faces twisted in pleasure. They thought that Harry didn't know about magic not affecting them. Harry smirked at them and ran his hand over the wand transfiguring it immediately into a long gleaming sword. The grins slipped off the vampire's faces as they looked at Harry in shock.

Harry couldn't help but smirk back at them. Neville couldn't do wandless transfiguration and so settled for turning the tip of his wand into a pointed end. The vampires lunged at the two boys, two headed for Harry.

Harry felt his magic sizzle around him as he brought his sword down on the vampires. The familiar rush he got when fighting nearly overwhelmed him. He had not fought with anyone like this for so long. It took Harry less than a minute to slice off the vampires heads, turning them into a pile of dust. He didn't wait to see if Neville was okay. Instead he rushed towards Alice who had just been thrown to the ground

The terrified woman shielded her three year old son and tried to block him as best as she could. She turned fearful eyes up to the vampire standing over her. The vampire lunged at her, intending to drink her dry. She screamed and clutched onto Nigel tightly. She wasn't going to let go of him. The vampire, however never got to her. She saw Harry slamming into him and knocking him away from her and Nigel. Harry was instantly on his feet as was the livid Daywalker. Harry twirled the sword in his hand and aimed for the vampire. The Daywalker tried to save himself but Harry was too fast for him. The sword cut through him and the next moment the headless body turned to dust even before hitting the ground.

Without saying a word, Harry picked Alice up off the ground. He took Nigel away from her, taking the child's weight away from the exhausted woman. He ran with Nigel in his arms and Alice's hand clutched tightly in his own.

Neville was still fighting with the vampire. He saw Harry picking up Nigel and knew his brother and mum were safe. His dad was still in trouble though. Frank kicked out at the vampires that were trying to hold him down so they could feed from him. Neville managed to drive his wand straight into the vampire's chest. The Daywalker let out a piecing scream. As Neville pulled the wand out the vampire turned to dust. Neville looked initially stunned. He had never had to slay a vampire before. The sight was actually frightening. He quickly pushed way those feelings and attacked another vampire, one that was trying to sink his fangs into his dad. He plunged his wand into the vampire's back, pushing it deeper so it could reach the heart. He successfully managed to kill that one as well. Frank got up from the ground and fought with the remaining two vampires.

"I told you to stay inside!" he yelled at Neville as he fought with the Daywalker.

"You're welcome!" Neville replied sarcastically as he tackled the other vampire.

Frank and Neville spotted Harry with Nigel and Alice. Fighting their way through they reached them. Frank instantly took Nigel from Harry. They were only a few feet away from the Three Broomsticks when seven vampires blocked their way. They stood, glaring at them, licking their blood stained lips at the sight of Nigel.

Frank handed Nigel over to Alice before standing in front of her, shielding her. Harry and Neville both stood next to Frank, shielding Alice and Nigel as well. The vampires laughed cruelly.

"You won't be able to protect him. We have come for them in particular. Children as young as them offer much more power than adults. You can't save him!" one of them shouted out.

Harry felt his blood boil with rage. He really hated these vile creatures! All of the vampires attacked at once. Frank kept close to Alice, fighting off the two that had come towards them. Harry and Neville had to fight the other five. Harry was trying to attack them as quickly as he could. He swung his sword around, cutting the three vampires in the stomach. They backed off for a moment but came back in full force, reaching out to grab him. Harry flipped backwards out of their reach. He spotted two wands lying next to the dead bodies of Aurors.

"Accio!" he cried out and dropped his sword in favour of the wands.

The three vampires were already in front of him before Harry had a proper grip on the wands. One of them managed to kick Harry in the stomach, making him fall to the ground. Harry didn't stay on the ground for long though. He sprang back onto his feet and held the wands tightly in his hands.

"It's useless boy! You can't fight us, let alone destroy us!" one of them snarled at him, eyeing the wands in Harry's hands.

"Call me stubborn, but I love proving you wrong!" Harry responded.

The three of them lunged at him at once, intending to rip him apart. Harry kicked out at the one vampire heading straight at him, successfully throwing him to the ground. Two vampires came at him from either side, knowing that he couldn't fight both of them. Harry stood where he was, letting them come closer. He threw out his hands to either side, catching both vampires at the same time. The wooden wands buried deep into their chests. As Harry pulled the wands back out, the two vampires turned to dust.

Without waiting for the vampire on the ground to get back up, Harry drove the wood into his chest, meeting the vampire's wide, pained gaze.

"Point proven!" he said just as the vampire evaporated to dust.

Harry looked up and saw Frank struggling with the two vampires. He pocketed the wands and picked up his sword on the way towards him and fought of the vampires.

"Go! Get them inside!" Harry shouted to Frank, whose arms were bleeding badly as he attempted to fight off the vampires.

Frank grabbed Alice and rushed to the pub. Harry kicked the vampire to the ground before dusting him as well. He looked up just in time to see Frank throw open the door and lead Alice and Nigel safely inside. Frank closed the door and headed back to continue fighting. He helped Neville fight off the vampires before grabbing him and depositing him inside the pub as well.

Harry let out a relieved sigh, Nigel was fine. He survived this. Harry had just decapitated another vampire when he spotted his dad. James had just fought off a vampire barely avoiding its bite.

Harry hurried over to him, twisting the sword threateningly in his hand.

xxx

Damien was watching the scene with bated breath. His eyes never left his brothers form. He watched as Harry sliced off the vampires heads as if it were child's play. His cool and collected fighting style was attracting all the others to the window to watch. Most of the students were down in the cellar or the rooms upstairs. It was mostly seventh years that were helping Lily and Molly. They watched out the windows in awe.

Damien watched as Harry bolted towards their father, swinging the sword in his hand. He attacked the vampire and helped James back onto his feet.

"Good Lord! You can tell he's done that before!" a Hufflepuff boy exclaimed as Harry killed another vampire.

Damien smiled at the memory. It was one of the most terrifying memories of his life, except meeting Voldemort that is. Harry had saved him from being attacked by four vampires. That was the day Damien had seen how much Harry cared for him. It was probably the turning point in their relationship.

Damien looked to his left and saw Charlie staring at Harry as well. His eyes never left Harry and the scowl he wore on his face was starting to relax as he saw Harry fighting alongside the Aurors.

"He never asked for this, you know." Damien said softly, catching Charlie's attention. The older boy turned to look at him.

"He was taken when he was only a baby. Everything he did was only because he didn't know any better. It was what he grew up believing was the way of life." Damien continued.

Charlie dropped his gaze and looked out the window again.

"It takes a lot to change everything about your life. Not everyone can adapt the way Harry has. He's had to sacrifice a lot in his life. Don't make him sacrifice her as well." Damien was now looking directly at him, asking him in the most civil manner he could, to step away from Harry and Ginny.

Charlie didn't say anything. He looked around at him and then dropped his head, a weary look on his face.

"She's my baby sister. You can't expect me not to worry!" Charlie answered.

Damien smiled and turned around to watch his brother again.

"All things considered, I think even _you_ would have to agree that no one can protect Ginny as well as Harry."

Charlie gaped at him. When it became apparent that the fourteen year old had nothing else to say, he turned around and left heading to the other corner of the room. Damien watched as Harry jumped out the way as a Daywalker threw the fire device at him.

xxx

Harry jumped out of the way as fire erupted at the spot he was standing in only seconds ago. He looked up to see a truly foreboding looking Daywalker glaring at him. His face was twisted to show how much he hated him, his mouth turned to a snarl.

Harry got up to his feet, watching the Daywalker take out another of the device and hold it up to show Harry.

"I think I now know who you are!" the Daywalker hissed at him.

Harry bristled at the sound of his voice. It was as if thorns were wrapped around his words.

"You must be that wretched boy that killed my brother!" he snarled at him, hate shinning in his eyes.

Harry smirked and gripped his sword tightly.

"You're going to have to be more specific than that. I've killed plenty of your scum! Which one was your brother?"

As predicted the Daywalker let out a roar of anger and threw the fire device at Harry. Harry lifted up his sword and muttered "Expandlim". The sword suddenly widened to form a rectangular shape and got hit by the small triangular device. It burst into flames but the fire merely slid off the sword. Harry looked at the Daywalkers, enjoying the look of shock and rage etched on his face. He shook the remaining flames away from his sword before returning it back to its former shape.

"You really are different from the rest! But I won't make the same mistake as Victor! You will die today, boy!" the Daywalker challenged as he took out his sword.

Understanding hit home. This was probably the Daywalkers' leader. His brother, most likely, was the leader of the Daywalkers that Harry had killed last year. The reason this Daywalker knew about him was probably because Harry had left one of the Daywalkers alive last time. He most likely went back and told the rest how their leader was killed by a boy. Harry grinned at that thought.

"So, you're the new leader? I didn't know leadership was passed down through family. I thought you all fought it out like the rest of the animals." Harry smirked as the Daywalker was again affected by his words.

"You will regret insulting us, boy! I became the leader because I am the most powerful Daywaker! Don't make your death more painful than I have planned!"

Harry pointed his wand towards the Daywalker.

"Plans rarely work out!" Harry answered cheekily.

That was enough for the enraged vampire. He belted towards Harry, sword drawn and aimed at Harry's chest. Harry blocked the attack and swung his sword to try and decapitate him but the Daywalker was quick to block Harry's attack. The two fought each other, trying to be the first to draw blood, but both Harry and the Daywalker were blocking one another's attacks. Harry blocked another ferocious strike and swung his sword towards the vampire's sword holding arm. A deep cut caused the vampire to drop his sword. Before Harry could get to him, four Daywalkers threw themselves in front of their leader to protect him. While they were attacking Harry, the leader Daywalker slipped away, far from him.

James and Sirius both saw Harry with the four vampires and quickly came to his aid.

"I thought I told you to stay inside!" James yelled at Harry as he fought.

"When have I ever listened to you?" Harry answered back, throwing a cheeky smile in his direction.

"Get back inside, Harry. I don't want you out here!" James yelled back as he prepared for another attack from two vampires.

Harry wasn't going anywhere. He brought out the wand he had picked up and transfigured it also into a sword. He fought with two swords, slashing and killing as many vampires as he could.

Suddenly, in the midst of all the shouting and screaming, a terrifying sound rooted Harry to the spot. He turned around, wishing with all his might that it wasn't what he feared. He cursed as he saw the sight before him. A small building was set on fire, forcing the residents to run outside. All Harry could see amongst the black smoke was red cloaks. Young children, still wearing their red cloaks, screaming in fear as they ran onto the street. Harry saw a few students with them, trying desperately to fire spells at the vampires to keep them away.

Harry ran as fast as he could towards them, vaguely aware of his dad, Sirius, Kingsley and a few other Aurors running with him. Harry brought down his sword at as many as he could, there number of the vampires heading towards the petrified children was alarming. Apparently the children were all gathered in the small café to get prizes for selling the most roses. They were trapped there when the attack happened and now were drawn out as the café was set on fire.

Harry had no other option; the vampires were closing in, trying to get to the children who were running in all sorts of directions. Harry transfigured his sword back into his wand and pointed at the large group of oncoming Daywalkers. He yelled:

"MOMENTUM EXPUR!"

The ground shook causing the vampires to fall onto the ground. The Aurors, who had seen Harry do this before, managed to stay on their feet and at once took the opportunity to kill as many vampires on the ground as they could. Some were hit with fireball hexes while others were stabbed through their heart.

Harry saw Frank running towards them. They grabbed the children and literally carried them towards the pub. Damien, Ginny, Hermione and Ron were standing near the entrance, door wide open, taking the scared children from them and carrying them inside to safety. While the other Aurors fought off the vampires, Harry and Frank carried the children to the pub.

Harry had just deposited a little boy into Damien's arms when he saw Sara looking frantically at the children. There was blood dripping from a cut on her forehead and her face was streaked with dirt. She had just been dragged in by Kingsley. Her panicked eyes met Harry's and he saw the tears in her eyes.

"Bella! I can't find Bella!" she cried, looking directly at Harry.

Harry's heart plummeted to his stomach. He turned around and headed straight towards the vampires again, looking desperately for the blonde haired child. They had taken all the children to safety. How could he miss one?

He fought off another vampire as he attacked him, but his eyes were still searching the blood covered Hogsmeade, looking for any sign of the child. His eyes suddenly met with a pair of colourless eyes. Harry felt his heart stop. The leader Daywalker was standing there, staring at Harry with a twisted grin on his face. In his grip was the little girl.

Harry felt his stomach clench with fear as the child's eyes met with his and her innocent blue eyes screamed out at him to help her. She was sobbing as the vicious man held her by the hair. Harry pointed his wand at him. His magic wouldn't work on the vampire but it could Accio Bella towards him.

"Acc…"

The words had not even left Harry's mouth before the vampire lifted the child by her hair and in the blink of an eye, he had ripped into her neck and started too feed.

The scream that left the little girl pierced into Harry, immobilising him. Harry shouted out his summoning charm but the vampire was holding onto the girl too tightly. His sadistic glare was still on Harry as he drank, as if he knew how much this was hurting him. Harry tore his way towards him, trying desperately to get to him, fighting his way through the vampires. The leader Daywalker dropped Bella to the ground and in one fluid motion disappeared into the crowd behind him. Harry reached Bella in a few seconds. He felt bile rise in his throat as he saw the bite wound on her neck. It looked like the vampire had taken an actual bite out of her! He picked the child up in his arms and rushed towards the pub. If he could get her inside quick enough, his mum could help her. She would survive this, she had to!

Harry ran into the crowded pub, yelling for his mum. He lay the five year old onto the table, his hands covered in her blood. Lily stifled the anguished moan that left her at the sight if the girl. Sara was by her side in a flash, crying her sister's name.

Harry watched with a painfully thumping heart as his mum ran her wand across the girl neck, stopping the blood flow. Her face fell as she checked the child's pulse. She pointed her wand at the small chest and muttered a spell. Harry watched as small jets of red light left the wand and hit Bella's chest. Lily kept on firing the jets of light, trying to revive the girl. At last she lowered her wand and her pained emerald green eyes met with her sons. She shook her head and let the tears fall. Sara cried out, clutching the body of her sister.

"Bella! Oh God, No! Please, God No! Bella!"

Harry stepped back, his eyes fixed on the dead body of the child. The familiar words being shouted were bringing back another memory. One that still ripped his heart to pieces.

Harry looked at the girl's face, her blue eyes were still open. A look of fear imprinted in them.

'She's only a kid! She only a child! An innocent! She can't die!' that thought kept repeating in his head. He watched as Sara clutched onto her sister, rocking her small body in her arms as she cried out her name.

He vaguely caught a glimpse of Hermione standing with Ron. Both had tears in their eyes. He didn't know that nearly everyone standing in that pub was shedding tears for the loss of an innocent life. Cutting through the sobs, Harry heard a laugh. A low gruff laugh. He turned around slowly, looking out of the open door. The leader of the Daywalkers, the one who had drank the child to death, was standing near the entrance. His laugh was ringing in the crowded pub. All eyes were on him but the Daywalker had his gaze fixed on Harry.

Harry felt something inside him snap. He turned to face the vampire.

Damien watched with the rest as the Daywalker jeered at Harry. He watched as Harry turned to face the horrid vampire. Damien felt his heart stop as he saw his brother's face. He knew what was going to happen seconds before it did. Harry's emerald green eyes started to darken.

"Oh God…!" was all that came from him before Harry tore out of the pub, heading straight for the vampire.

The grin slipped off the Daywalker's face as Harry raced towards him. It was the vampire's intention to draw Harry out, that was why he was standing there, taunting him with his laugh. He had seen the desperation in his eyes just before the little girl was killed. The Daywalker knew Harry would be enraged at her death. He had not contemplated how fearsome the wizard would look though.

The Aurors felt more than saw Harry come out of the pub. The ground shook with tremors as Harry headed for the vampire. Most of the Daywalkers rushed to protect their leader, leaving most of the Aurors to watch the scene.

James felt the air around him vanish as he saw Harry. His green eyes had turned completely black. His hand was closed tightly over the sword and his piercing glare was directed at the leader Daywalker. Before Harry could get to the vampire in question, four vampires leapt in his way. Harry didn't look away from the leader. His eyes stayed focused on the leader as he swung his sword. He had sliced off the four vampires heads in a matter of seconds.

He raised his hand towards the oncoming group of vampires. The five vampires stopped in their tracks and screamed in agony. Smoke started coming out from them. As the Aurors watched in morbid fascination, the vampires fell to the ground still crying out in agony. The smoke coming from an invisible fire was growing thicker. Suddenly the five exploded into dust. They had been set on fire from the inside.

Harry grabbed the petrified looking leader Daywalker and threw him to the ground. Before he could do anymore, a large group of ten vampires grabbed Harry and pulled him away from their leader. Harry regained his footing and turned to the vampires. The look of fury on his face made a few of them step back.

Harry tightened his grip on his sword and leapt towards the group. The students watching from the Three Broomsticks let out a collective gasp. What was Harry doing? He couldn't possibly fight a group as large as ten vampires, even with a sword!

As the Aurors and students watched Harry attacked the group with vigour. He slashed at the vampires, sometimes catching their arms and torsos, making them leap back in pain. Harry reached out and grabbed one of the vampires. He stabbed the vampire, making the sword go right through his stomach and out the other side. Instead of pulling the sword out, he pulled it up the way. The vampire was helpless to stop himself from being ripped into two.

Harry killed the vampires before turning to the leader. The Daywalker, now furious at losing most of his men, moved towards Harry. His sword drawn and aimed. Harry looked at the Daywalker and the air around him fizzled with dark magic. His black eyes were focused on the vampire, his mouth twisted into a snarl.

The Aurors wanted to move, to help to do what they could but the sheer sight of Harry, looking like he did right now, made them stay where they were. James swallowed the fear that came at the sight of his eldest son. There was no doubt in anyone's mind as to who Harry looked like right now. Eyes an inhuman colour, face twisted in hatred and rage, the essence of dark magic coming from him in strong waves. Even the ground trembling beneath him was very reminiscent of _him._

James willed these horrible feelings deep down to bury them. Harry was not like Voldemort. He wasn't. But even as he thought this, he saw Harry attack the vampire, burying the sword deep into the vampire's chest.

Harry pulled the sword out and then swung around, catching the Daywalker's sword holding arm. The vampire let out a cry as his arm was sliced completely off. He looked up at Harry, eyeing his sword warily. Harry smirked, causing the watching Aurors and students to shudder with fear. There was so much darkness in that smirk. It again was strikingly familiar to _him_.

Harry wordlessly transfigured the sword back to his wand. The Daywalker tried one last time to attack. Harry easily blocked him and threw the vampire to the ground. He leaned towards the vampire, grabbing him from the front of his robes. The Daywalker shouted out to the rest of his men, ordering them to help him.

The surrounding Daywalkers ran towards him, trying to get him. Harry raised his hand towards them and most fell, writhing on the ground in pain, smoke coming from their robes.

Harry turned to the Daywalker in his grasp. The non verbal curse was repeated again and the colourless eyes widened in pain. Smoke started coming from the leader Daywalker as his insides started burning. He looked painfully into the dark orbs in front of him.

"At least you saw the same face as your brother did before ending your miserable existence." Harry spat at him.

He buried his wand deep into the vampire's chest. He pulled it out and watched with deep satisfaction as the monster before him turned to dust. The remaining Daywalkers fled from Hogsmeade after watching their leader turn to dust. The Aurors and students hardly noticed. Every eye was fixed on Harry. The teen still stood where he was. His eyes had turned back to their normal green. He stood, staring at the spot the Daywalker had been. He looked up and saw the fearful faces of the Aurors watching him. Amongst them were his father and Godfathers.

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Please let me know what you think! Cheers!


	17. A Part of Me

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks for all the great reviews! Here's the next instalment. Enjoy!!

**Chapter Seventeen**

The silence in the Great Hall was one that no one had ever experienced before. Every student sat in their seats, deep in thought. The food before them was hardly touched. Most were no strangers when it came to attacks. They were attacked last year by these very same creatures. That time though, everyone had managed to get back to Hogwarts in time, before anyone got hurt. Shortly after that the Hogwarts Express was attacked. Again, no student was hurt and as scary as it was at the time, they realised that watching wizards duel was nothing compared to watching people being devoured by vampires. Most students were still trembling at the memory.

The Hufflepuff table was the most solemn of the lot. Friends of Sara sat in mourning for the loss of little Bella. In fact, most of the seventh year students were holding back tears for the little girl. She had died before their eyes.

A lot of students were injured, nothing serious, mostly injuries sustained when they were trying to get away from the vampires. Very few were seriously injured when bitten by the Daywalkers but had been saved by the Aurors in time. All of them were currently in St Mungos hospital. Sara had been taken away by her devastated parents.

But there was something else to blame for the students shaken behaviour. It wasn't the vampires or even the death of Bella. It was what happened after Bella had been killed. The way Harry had reacted.

Hermione shuddered again as the memory swam before her eyes. She had seen Harry's eyes turn black before, when he destroyed Voldemort's Horcruxes. That wasn't what scared her but she knew it was what bothered most students. No, what bothered her was the fear that he radiated when he was fighting. The presence that he had brought around him when he stepped out to kill the leader Daywalker. It was terrifying. She had seen Harry in battle before. Many times actually but never before had she detected the darkness surrounding him.

'Maybe it's got something to do with his full powers?' she thought silently to herself.

Her eyes settled on the empty chair opposite from her. Harry had not come down for dinner. Not that she blamed him. She wished that she hadn't bothered coming down as well. She couldn't stomach the mere thought of food right now.

Hermione shared a look with Ron who held her hand for a short moment, in a reassuring way. She wasn't sure what he was reassuring but it was enough to warm up the cold spot in her stomach.

She shook her head to clear away the disturbing images of Harry killing the vampires. She knew she was going to have nightmares of this. Probably everyone who witnessed this was going to have a few sleepless nights.

But no one knew that this event was going to take whatever peace Harry had left. The few moments he could catch sleep before Voldemort tormented him, was going to be snatched away by the death of the first innocent Harry had failed to save.

xxx

James had just come out of his bathroom after having a shower when he spotted his two friends sitting in his room. James pulled the towel away from his damp hair and looked at Remus and Sirius. Lily was sitting in the chair next to them, her feet drawn up and her arms wrapped around her knees.

"We thought you might want some food." Remus pointed at the two plates of food lying on the table.

"No thanks. Can't eat right now." James said as he sat down next to Lily. They had skipped dinner since they didn't feel like eating.

"James, this is bad." Sirius decided to jump straight to the point.

"I know, Sirius." James sighed. He really didn't want to talk about this right now.

As if reading his mind, Remus leaned forward and patted his shoulder.

"It's not going to go away, Prongs. We have to address this issue as soon as we can."

James looked up at him and nodded his head miserably.

The hot shower had just managed to wash away the images that were twisting James' insides into knots. Why did he have to think about it again?

"James, you have to talk to Harry! He had to understand what happened!" Sirius was finding it hard to keep his emotions in check.

They had messed up, really messed up. When Harry had looked over at them, after killing the leader Vampire he had looked completely heartbroken at their expression. They hadn't meant to look at Harry like that. They didn't want Harry to think they didn't trust him, or worse, that they _feared_ him. They knew that Harry would never hurt them. It was just that at that time, Harry was, well, not himself. He had reminded them strongly of someone they did fear, even if they spent their whole life pretending that they didn't.

"I think you should talk to him first. After he calms down and realises that we don't all…hate him, he'll be fine." Remus said softly.

"I don't think he'll talk to us. Not now anyway." James responded.

"Don't you remember Christmas? Don't you remember how torn up he was about being accused of being untrustworthy? He already thinks that people regard him as evil and cruel and that no one can trust him! Think what he'll be thinking now that his own father and godfathers looked at him with fear!" Lily erupted. She had seen what Harry had done as well. The fear had risen in her as well but she was quick to block it and throw it away. This was _her_ son before her. Her son! Not Voldemort's.

"Lily, it was involuntary. We didn't mean to look at him like that." Remus argued.

"Yeah, and it wasn't just us. You could tell that everyone was shocked. He looked just like Vol…"

"Don't say it!" James cut Sirius off.

The other three stared at him. They could see clearly how much this was torturing him. Sirius, Remus and Lily all calmed down and addressed him.

"Not saying it out loud isn't going to change it from being true." Remus stated quietly.

"Maybe we're all just over reacting. I mean, h-he did raise him. He taught Harry how to duel and as much as I hate to admit it, he did transfer some of his powers to Harry. Maybe it's just inevitable that Harry fights like…like him." Lily suggested.

"It's not the fighting." James said quietly. He raised his eyes to look at her.

"It's not as simple as the fighting style. It was the more than that. For a moment it was like…like _he_ had come back!" James stopped talking and ran a shaky hand through his hair.

"It was more the essence of dark magic that came from him, not to mention the magic he performed was dark as well. Burning those creatures from the inside. That isn't light magic!" James got up and started pacing the floor, hands clasped tightly behind him.

"And to make matters worse, the Ministry Aurors were there, and the Minister himself was watching from the window as well! They all saw him! And while they can't do anything about the dark magic he performed since it was used in a life or death situation and it was against vampires, it won't stop them from discriminating against him in the future!" James was now yelling in frustration.

"James, what are you talking about? The Ministry won't do anything to Harry. They know better than that!" Sirius responded.

"Don't be stupid, Sirius! They haven't done anything to Harry yet because they are reluctant to destroy the image of him as a hero. A Light side wizard who destroyed Voldemort! But now that Harry showed what he's actually capable of, they won't be able to paint him like a hero anymore. Harry has unintentionally put himself in a very dangerous position! Now no one can deny that Harry is capable of very dark magic!" James shouted.

"But they knew that about him from the beginning. Harry's true past hasn't been kept from anyone. Everyone knows he's been brought up learning dark magic!" Remus argued.

James stopped pacing and turned to look at Remus. His eyes showing the fear he was feeling at the moment.

"Yes, but everyone had chosen to ignore that fact. Think about Harry's behaviour today! After this how many people will continue to believe that Harry's not the Dark Prince anymore? That he's not the one carrying out these recent attacks!" James' words rang in the room.

xxx

Damien stood with his arms crossed, his eyes glues to the door before him.

"I'm not going away, Harry! You're going to have to talk to me sooner or later!" he yelled for the sixth time.

There was no answer.

"Fine! Have it your way! I'm just going to sit here and wait for you."

Damien sat down, legs crossed, in the middle of the corridor, facing the door that was the room of Requirement in which Harry had locked himself.

He sat silently for a few minutes. He knew that Harry wouldn't let him sit there, on the freezing floor in the middle of the corridor for long. Just as he suspected, there was a loud click, indicating the room had now been unlocked.

Damien stood up and hurried inside, before Harry changed his mind. He walked inside to find Harry standing with his back towards him, staring out of the magically placed window.

"Harry, you've got to stop this." Damien said as he walked over to him.

Harry had literally locked himself inside the Room of Requirement since yesterday. After they all had come back to Hogwarts from the disastrous day in Hogsmeade, Harry had locked himself inside and had refused to speak to anyone. James, Lily, Ron, Hermione and even Ginny pleaded for him to come out but Harry wouldn't listen to them or let them come inside. Damien felt the smug satisfaction he always felt when Harry showed favouritism to him.

"You have to come outside. Mum and dad are going berserk! They even went to Professor Dumbledore to see if he could somehow force you out…" Damien stopped at Harry's annoyed look.

"…but Professor Dumbledore actually stood up for you and told them to leave you alone. But really, Harry, this isn't healthy! Please come outside and talk to them." Damien watched as his words had no effect on Harry whatsoever.

"Please, Harry, at least come and get some food. You've had nothing to eat since yesterday morning." Damien tried again.

Harry shook his head a fraction and went back at staring out the window.

"Why are you tormenting yourself? It wasn't your fault! You couldn't have stopped it, Harry." Damien said, getting immensely annoyed with his brother.

"It was my fault."

Damien looked at Harry in surprise. He wasn't expecting him to talk.

"How can you say that? How is it your fault?" he asked outraged that Harry could take the blame.

"I could have saved her. I would have managed to get to her if I hadn't taken so long in helping. I should have helped sooner."

Damien noticed how Harry's hands had curled into fists. His eyes were clouded with so much regret it was making Damien's heart break.

"Everything bad that happens isn't your fault, Harry. No one asked for you to save her. Dad actually told you to stay inside the pub. No one blames you for yesterday. You tried to help her, but you couldn't." Damien was keeping his eyes fixed to Harry's, to show him that he was sincere in what he was saying.

"You weren't the only one there. The entire seventh year was there. Other witches and wizards your age. They don't blame themselves. Why are you beating yourself up about this?" Damien continued.

"No one else knew how to fight the Daywalkers." Harry interrupted.

"So? That isn't your fault!" Damien knew he was being selfish but right now he desperately wanted Harry to understand that Bella's death wasn't his fault.

"You didn't see her before she…" Harry broke off, not able to finish his sentence.

"She was only five years old! The way she looked at me…her eyes…" Harry squeezed his eyes shut to drive away the memory of the pleading look the child had sent him.

"No child should have that much fear in her eyes. She looked at me, Damy. She looked at me and her eyes…she thought I was going to save her. I could see it in her expression." Harry let out a shaky breath, fighting to control his emotions.

"I failed. I had sworn to myself that I would never let any innocent child suffer. Not after what I went through. I promised to myself that I would save any child, if it were in my power to do so. I was right there! Only a few feet away and I couldn't do anything. She died in front of me and I couldn't do anything!" Harry's eyes were fixed to the ground, his hands trembling.

Damien opened his mouth but found he didn't have anything to say that could make Harry feel better. He had never asked Harry or his parents about the abuse Harry went through. He honestly didn't want to know. He knew now though that it was something that affected Harry even to this day. He had never mentioned that part of his past to anyone. Not since the day he had attempted to kill their dad. Damien quickly forced that memory away. He didn't want to remember that day. It was still too painful.

Damien spent the next hour or so trying to get Harry to come back to the dorm. He needed to sleep. At last, he convinced Harry to leave the sanctuary of the Room of Requirement and head back to his dorm. He really needed his bed.

Harry followed Damien, too tired to argue anymore. He was silently glad the common room was empty. Damien led Harry to his dorm. Ron was still awake, he leapt from his bed at the sight of Harry but at the look Damien threw at him, he remained silent. He let Damien guide Harry to his bed. Harry just fell into bed and turned his back to the two boys. Damien left, whispering to Ron to 'keep quiet and don't talk to him'.

Harry felt his eyes close of their own accord. They snapped open a few minutes later. Harry stifled his groans of horror as he woke up with a jolt. He had seen the innocent blue eyes, staring at him, pleading for help. The blue eyes changed suddenly to red. Fiery red eyes that looked at him with such hatred it tore his heart apart.

Harry sat up in his bed, rubbing at his eyes furiously. He couldn't deal with nightmares. Not tonight. He hadn't slept the night before. Not even for a single moment. He was shattered. He needed to sleep. Knowing he shouldn't do this but failing to see what else he could do, Harry reached for his bedside drawer. There was only one vial of Dreamless Seeping potion left. Harry held it in his hand for a moment. He really should wait for another three days before taking this. He had to give himself two weeks break between doses. Feeling his sleep deprived body ache, Harry closed his eyes and not caring about the consequences, he put the vial to his lips and swallowed the potion.

He fell asleep as soon as he lay back down. He was already asleep so he didn't notice Ron staring at him worriedly from the next bed.

xxx

James knocked on the door once and then entered. The room was empty. 'Damn!' he thought. He had wanted to see Harry before classes started. He had already visited the Room of Requirement first thing this morning. He was actually relieved at first when the handle turned in his hand and he was allowed to go inside. He rushed in to find the room empty. He had then rushed to the Gryffindor dorms. He had not spoken to Harry since Hogsmeade. He didn't class the words he had shouted at Harry through the wooden door all day yesterday as 'talking'.

James had seen most of the students heading downstairs for breakfast and had hurried along to see if he could catch Harry first. He really needed to talk to him and see if he was okay. Now he was standing in the empty room, staring at the vacant bed. He really hoped Harry was okay. He would have to wait for the end of the day before speaking to him properly. There would be no time today in between classes and at meal times.

He turned around to leave and almost jumped back in fright. Harry had just walked back inside and had caught him off guard.

"Harry!" James said, trying to disguise his jump.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Harry said looking at James fixedly.

James had to force himself to believe that Harry was being genuine. But he knew that Harry was taking a dig at what had happened at Hogsmeade.

"You, you didn't scare me." James said with much more force than he intended.

"What are you doing here?" Harry said as he walked further into his room. He opened his trunk and started fishing out his books. He had seemingly forgotten them.

"I came to see you." James said, watching Harry's kneeling figure.

"I had worked that much out myself. Why did you want to see me?" Harry expanded.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay?" James said, feeling his heart speed up at the lack of emotion Harry was showing. He knew that meant he was really mad.

Harry snapped his trunk closed and stood up, facing James.

"I'm fine. Why shouldn't I be?" he asked.

James knew he had to stay patient with him.

"I'm sorry about what happened in Hogsmeade." He started. Harry visibly bristled but was quick to blank his expression.

"I want to talk to you about…"

"I don't." Harry interrupted.

James looked at Harry in surprise.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"I don't want to talk about Hogsmeade. There's nothing to talk about. Now, if you excuse me I have to get to class." Harry turned to leave.

"Harry!" James stopped him from leaving.

"Come and see me this evening." He said, keeping his eyes fixed on his son.

Harry studied his dad's face before shaking his head.

"I have too much work to do." He lied.

"It won't take long. I just need to talk and you're right. We don't have the time right now. Come and see me at eight." James said, walking towards him so both could leave.

"I won't come…" Harry responded but this time James was the one to cut him off.

"You will. Eight sharp! Don't be late."

With that said, James left leaving Harry standing alone in the room.

xxx

Harry couldn't eat. He sat and played with the food on his plate. It felt like his appetite had gone to sleep and hadn't woken up yet. After futilely trying to make himself eat some breakfast he gave up and pushed his plate away.

"Have something to eat, Harry. You haven't eaten anything for the last two days." Hermione scolded.

Harry looked up at her.

"Hermione, my mum's only sitting a few feet away. You don't have to act like her!" he snapped.

Hermione ignored him and pushed his plate closer to him.

Ginny giggled at the look Harry threw at the bushy haired girl. His friends were treating him like they would normal. It was an unspoken deal between them. When Harry was upset about something, no one would bring that topic up unless Harry did. So that meant that everything was to be as normal as possible between the friends.

The rest of the students were quiet around him which actually suited Harry fine. He didn't want to talk to them, any of them.

He skipped lunch as the mere thought of food was making him feel queasy. Ron kept looking at him funny but he didn't say anything to him. Again, at dinner, Harry opted to head to the library under the pretence that he had to look up some things for homework.

At eight sharp, Harry knocked on his dad's doors. James opened the door and let Harry come inside. Harry stood in the middle of the familiar room.

"You can sit, you aren't in trouble." James said as he pointed to the chair.

"It sounded like that this morning." Harry said without being able to hold back the response.

James ran a hand through his hair as he muttered a 'sorry'.

"So, why did you want to see me?" Harry asked, still refusing to sit down.

"I wanted to see if you were okay. You locked yourself in that room and refused to speak to me. I know you're angry with me…"

"I'm not angry with you." Harry interrupted.

James looked at Harry and could see the exasperation in the familiar emerald eyes.

"Harry…"

"Why would I be angry with you?" Harry asked, his voice getting bitter with each word.

James dropped his head in shame and sat down in his chair.

"I'm sorry." he said simply.

Harry seemed to get angrier at this.

"What are you apologising about? For embarrassing me in front of all the Aurors! Or for making me feel like I had done something wrong in killing that filthy creature!" Harry shouted, the mask slipping away to reveal how hurt he actually was.

James looked at him, horrified at the accusation.

"Harry, I didn't mean to upset you. I'm sorry if you think I embarrassed you. I didn't intend to." James said sincerely.

"Looking at me like I was bomb about to go off is pretty embarrassing!" Harry retorted.

"I didn't mean to embarrass you in front of anyone! What happened…it was just so sudden. I had never seen you…you like that." James knew he wasn't making any sense. He took a deep breath and started again.

"I was caught off guard. The only time I had seen you turn like that was in one of Snape's memories. I had almost forgotten that your eyes can change colour."

Harry didn't look any calmer. He raised an eyebrow at the mention of Snape and his memory but he didn't question it.

"You didn't look or act like yourself and it threw me. Same with Remus and Sirius. We could never fear you, Harry. You're my son." James finished emotionally.

If he thought that would calm Harry he was dreadfully wrong. Harry was looking at him with barely suppressed anger.

"I didn't 'act or look' like myself?" Harry repeated.

James looked taken aback. What had he said wrong?

"Really, dad? So tell me, who did I act like? Who did I look like?" he asked icily.

Harry already knew the answer. He had seen it the very moment his eyes had met his dad's fearful eyes in Hogsmeade. When James didn't answer Harry looked away, shaking his head slightly.

"Harry…" James started, swallowing the shame.

"No, just forget it! It doesn't matter. I sometimes forget that you don't know me at all! You seemingly can't recognise your own son." Harry said and headed towards the door. James however wasn't finished yet.

"Hold on a minute! That's not fair! You can't accuse me of that! You had completely changed. What with your eyes changing and everything! You didn't look like your normal self at all."

"That is my normal self! I didn't change into anything! That was me, a part of me!" Harry yelled, angry at his dad for not accepting this truth of his.

James stood blocking the door, staring at Harry's hurt expression.

"I…I know that. I know that it was still you. I just meant that it threw everyone because we've never seen you change like that." James explained.

Harry didn't respond but looked away from James angrily.

"And don't say things like, 'I don't know you' Harry because that's just not true." James said, struggling to keep the hurt out of his voice.

"It is true!" Harry said, not caring to keep his emotions in check any longer.

"You only met me a year ago. You hardly know me at all!" Harry stated.

"Yes, but that wasn't my fault!" James raised his voice, letting go of the grip he had on his emotions as well.

Harry stared at him hard.

"Well it's not my bloody fault! Maybe if you had chosen your _friends_ more carefully, we wouldn't be in this problem!"

Harry wished he could have stopped himself from saying that. He stood numbly, watching the expression James wore change from annoyed to deeply hurt. Harry felt his own anger diminish as he saw how much his words had hurt his dad.

"I…I didn't…" Harry couldn't find the words to say that would make the situation any better.

Harry walked around James and left quickly, afraid he would make the situation worse if he stayed. James stood in numb disbelief. He had blamed himself for years for trusting Peter. But never before had someone else blamed him.

xxx

James raced to the astronomy tower. He had looked for Harry everywhere. The common room, the Great Hall, the Room of Requirement and even the kitchens. He wasn't anywhere. He had to force Damien to look at the marauders map. It showed Harry's sole form sitting at the top of the astronomy tower.

James ran up the last steps leading to the roof. He took a few moments to catch his breath. He looked up and saw Harry sitting on the roof, staring out at the sight before him. It was still rather chilly and Harry wasn't wearing his outdoor cloak. James waked over and sat down next to him. Harry made no move to acknowledge him.

A few minutes passed in silence. James kept his eyes fixed straight in front of him. It was easier to talk sometimes when you didn't have to look at the person.

"You're right." He said simply.

Harry didn't react. He didn't even look in James' direction.

"About a lot of things. You're right about me not knowing you. You're right about that."

Harry turned his head and looked at James, but James kept his sight fixed ahead.

"I know that everything that happened was my fault." he swallowed heavily, gathering all his strength to keep talking.

Harry opened his mouth to interrupt but James cut him off.

"Let me finish, please."

Harry complied and looked ahead of him again.

"If I had figured Peter out, I wouldn't have lost you. If I had listened to my heart and looked for you, I might have found you. If I had only tried harder to talk to you when you came back last year, I would have found out about all those lies you were brought up with."

Harry's expression softened and he was looking in James' direction.

"I don't want to make anymore mistakes with you. I don't want to mess up again." James finally looked at Harry.

"I really don't want to lose you again!" he finished emotionally.

Harry watched his dad struggle with his words and felt sorry for him. He didn't want to lose him either. He reached out and gave him an awkward pat on the shoulder.

"You won't lose me." he reassured him.

"I felt like I did." James admitted quietly.

"When I saw you walk out of Three Broomsticks, you didn't look like my Harry at all. I thought I had lost you. I felt like I was watching someone else. Someone who I never want to even think about again in my life!"

No one spoke for a few minutes. Both sat in silence looking out at the night sky, trembling partly because of the cold and partly because of their conversation. Finally, Harry broke the silence.

"He's a part of me."

James looked at him abruptly.

"Voldemort. He's a part of me. He is and always will be. There's nothing you or I can do to change that. The sooner you accept that, the better it will be." Harry said in a calm voice.

James couldn't hide the shock and hurt at his words.

"Even if he did it more for his own reasons, he did bring me up. I called him father for nearly sixteen years. Just because he didn't love me like a son, it doesn't mean that I didn't love him like a father. Everything I am today, whether it be good or bad, is because of him. I learnt everything I know from him. So it's inevitable that he became a part of me." Harry watched as James struggled to respond.

"Dad, you don't have to say anything. I understand. You saw him in me and that freaked you out. I get it. You don't have to say anymore. You just have to get used to the idea that I'm like him…"

"No! Harry. You're not like him!" James suddenly interrupted.

"You are not like Voldemort! He was cruel and vicious and he didn't care about anyone but himself! You're not like that! You're not!" James told him heatedly.

"You don't know what I go through when you refer to him as 'father'. He took you away from me! He's our enemy and I can't understand why you sill love him." James stopped as he saw the look on Harry's face harden.

"Harry, I don't understand. He hurt you! He hurt you when you were only a child. He lied to you and used you! When you walked away from him he haunted you down. He blackmailed you into giving yourself up and then he tortured you. He would have killed you if you didn't defend yourself! How can you still love him?" James desperately wanted an answer.

Harry looked at him, a sad smile on his face.

"If I could answer that question dad, I would finally be at peace."

James looked at him in surprise. He wasn't expecting that answer.

"I don't know why I love him. Maybe it's because I spent the last fifteen years of my life loving him as a father. Maybe it's because I don't know what else to feel for him." Harry traced his scar slowly.

"There are somethings you can't control. I guess this is one of them." he dropped his hand away from his scar.

James sat in silence. He didn't know how to deal with this situation now. He couldn't understand the feelings Harry still had for Voldemort. He wanted to forget what Harry had just said and pretend it never happened.

"I really am sorry about Hogsmeade." James said, trying to distract his mind from Harry's words.

Harry looked over at him and after giving him a scrutinising look, he dropped his gaze.

"It's okay." he said.

"Really? I'm forgiven?" James asked.

"I wasn't really that mad with you." Harry lied again.

"Yeah, you were." James said with a small smile.

Harry shrugged his shoulders in response.

"Okay, can we go from here now, I'm freezing." James said as he stood up.

"You go. I want to stay for a while longer." Harry said, making no effort to look at his dad.

James stared at him for a second, debating in his mind what he should do. With a sigh he sat back down. Harry looked at him.

"You can go." he said.

"I know, but I know you're still upset so I'm going to stay." James said, rubbing his hands together to keep warm.

"But, can we go inside and talk there. It really is cold." James said with a playful whimper.

Harry glared at him and pulled out his wand.

"I don't know about you, but I happen to be a wizard."

With a complicated wave of his wand, Harry conjured a ball of fire that floated in the air before them. James laughed and instantly began warming his hands before the fire.

"That's more like it!" he joked. Harry smiled and pocketed his wand.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" James asked, hoping Harry wouldn't bring up Voldemort again.

Harry seemed to detect the reluctance in his dad's voice. He knew James couldn't stand the mention of Voldemort's name let alone the topic of what Harry still felt about him. In any case, Harry didn't want to talk about Voldemort. His dad wouldn't be able to understand it anyway. Harry couldn't think of anyone who could possibly understand how he felt.

For a fleeting moment Harry felt the urge to tell James about his nightmares. But he suppressed it. It would only make things worse. What could James do about the nightmares? Nothing.

So Harry just smiled. The familiar smile he wore to mask his distress and started talking about useless things. It was nice that James was taking the time to talk to him. For now, that was enough.

xxx

It was quite late at night and most of the students had gone to bed. Ron couldn't shake away the unsettling feelings he had. It was now more than one week since he caught Harry taking the Dreamless sleeping potion and he still hadn't told anyone. The main reason was because he wanted to speak to Harry about it. But that was much easier said than done. Harry didn't give him any chance to be alone with him. Whenever Ron went to bed, Harry would already be asleep. Or he pretended to be asleep in any case. Ron didn't want to talk to Harry with Neville, Seamus and Dean in the same room.

He was glad that Harry was his normal self again after the Hogsmeade incident. Most of the students had started talking to him again but were visibly wary of him. It was clear to see how much they feared him now that they saw what he was actually capable of. Harry didn't seem that bothered about them though. As long as if friends and family were okay with him, he was happy.

The red haired boy gave a sigh and got up. He left with Damien and headed to bed, Hermione and Ginny trailing behind them. He had just gotten a few steps up when he realised he had left his bag with his school books back in the common room. Cursing his forgetfulness, he walked back to pick them up.

He walked back into the common room and stopped dead in his tracks. He let out a surprised gasp as he saw the blond haired Slytherin standing near the small cabinet which held the few Butterbeers now left. Draco Malfoy looked in the direction of the sound and his grey eyes narrowed at the Gryffindor standing at the foot of the stairs.

"If it isn't Weasley!" he said with a sneer.

"Malfoy!" Ron yelled and bolted in his direction, throwing him an angry glare.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?!" he shouted as he came to stand before him.

Draco just stood where he was, looking at the red faced Weasley with calm.

"I don't think it's got anything to do with you." he responded.

"Like hell it doesn't! You're in our common room. It has everything to do with me!" Ron yelled again.

"Trust me, I'm the one who is suffering by being in the Gryffindor common room." Draco said as he cast a disapproving glance at the room.

"Honestly, how can you stand so much red around you?" he sneered again.

Before Ron could respond he heard similar gasps. He looked around and saw Damien, Hermione and Ginny standing behind him. They must have heard him yelling.

"How did you come in here?" Hermione asked before Ron could say anything.

Draco looked at Hermione and the dislike he had for her was evident in his grey eyes.

"It's rather obvious." he said.

"I walked in through the door."

"Yes, I gathered that much. I meant _how_ could you come in through the door. You don't have our password." Hermione said, ignoring the hurtful looks he was giving her.

Draco smirked at her and turned away from her. He opened the cabinet door and took out a bottle of butterbeer.

"As a matter of fact, Granger, I do know your password. That is how I came in." Draco announced, a smug look on his face now.

He opened the bottle and took a swig, nearly spitting it back out again.

"Good God! It's not even chilled! How can you drink this crap?" he said looking at the bottle with disgust.

"Actually, Malfoy! Those are Harry's. He likes his drinks like that. The ones on the top shelf are chilled." Ginny said, her arms crossed.

Malfoy opened the door again and pulled out a bottle from the top shelf. He could tell just by holding it that it was chilled. He looked at Hermione, a smirk on his face again.

"I bet this was your idea! Always the brain box!"

Hermione would have thought that was a compliment if he hadn't said it with such venom.

"Of course it was Hermione's idea! But after you're done drinking our drinks you could tell us how you know our password? Who told you?" Ron asked icily.

"I did."

The five looked around and saw Harry standing at the staircase. He had walked down without them noticing.

"You?" Ron asked now wearing a very bemused expression.

"Yeah" Harry confirmed as he walked over to the group.

"But…why? Why did you tell him?" it was Ginny who asked the question.

"Why not? It's not like it's against the rules or anything." Harry said nonchalantly.

"Actually, Harry, it is. You can't have anyone from another house in your common room. It's the whole point for having separate common rooms and passwords." Hermione told him.

"Oh, didn't know, don't care!" Harry said giving her one of his trademark smirks.

"But, Harry…" Damien started.

"What?" the question cut Damien off.

Truth was that Damien still didn't like Malfoy but he was eternally grateful to him for helping them save Harry from Voldemort. He shut his mouth and looked away.

"Actually I meant to ask you something?" Ron suddenly said advancing on Malfoy.

"I don't remember seeing you in the Three Broomsticks during the attack last week."

Draco continued to look calmly at him but his jaw suddenly clenched.

"Where were you?" Ron asked.

"And why should I tell you?" Draco asked, menace clear in his voice.

"It doesn't matter to you where I was!" he finished, his pale face twisted with annoyance.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked before Ron could ask anymore questions.

Draco shared a look with Harry but neither boy answered the question. Instead Draco turned to speak to Harry.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked, his voice returning to its usual tone.

"Yeah" Harry answered.

A wave of panic went through the other four.

"Harry, where…where are you going?" Damien asked.

"Nowhere. I'm right here." Harry said but started walking towards the door.

"Harry!" Ginny called out to him.

"Just relax guys. I'm not leaving Hogwarts." Harry said smirking, enjoying the looks of distress on their faces.

With a final wink at them, he walked out of the common room with Draco.

Damien instantly went to pull out the map from his pocket. If Harry was staying inside Hogwarts, he would see where he was going. His eyes widened in horror as he realised that the map was missing.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Note: Hopefully this chapter should make it clear that Harry is not a Horcrux. Voldemort is truly gone and won't be coming back. Just thought I would put that speculation to rest. The title refers to what Harry feels about Voldemort. Okay, let me know what you think! Cheers!


	18. Fevers and Potions

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks so much for all your reviews. Here's the next chappie! Enjoy!

**Chapter Eighteen**

The entire castle was still and silent. Mostly everyone was asleep. Even Mrs Norris had curled up next to the dying fire and was fast asleep. The only two people that were still awake were deep down in the dark dungeons of the castle. Harry and Draco worked mostly in silence in the Potions lab. The cauldrons in front of them bubbled furiously and at regular intervals purple coloured steam issued from them.

Draco looked at Harry's silent form working on his potion. He looked away and concentrated on his own cauldron. He wondered for the tenth time that night why Harry needed so much Dreamless sleeping potion.

"Just come out and ask." Harry pulled Draco out of his thoughts.

The blond haired boy looked up at his friend and narrowed his eyes at him.

"What?" he asked.

"You're wondering about the potion. Just ask me?" Harry said.

"Why do you think that?" Draco asked, wondering how Harry could always figure out his thoughts.

"It's not hard, Draco. You keep looking at the two cauldrons and then looking up at me." Harry answered with a smile on his face.

"It's that obvious, huh?" Draco asked.

"Afraid so." Harry replied, stirring the potion counter clockwise.

"Okay, so tell me. Why do you need so much sleeping potion?" the Slytherin asked.

Harry didn't answer until he had stopped stirring the potion.

"I'm sick of asking Poppy for some. I figure she'll get annoyed and tell mum or dad about me taking it. I can't stand the thought of another lecture from them, so I figured with your help, I can make up a big batch. That way I'll have plenty if I need it." Harry answered.

"I'm sure one cauldron would have been enough. With this amount I thought you were planning on putting the entire school to sleep!" Draco joked.

Harry looked at him derisively.

"That's a bit of an exaggeration." He commented. Draco just laughed.

"Seriously though, why two cauldrons?" Draco asked.

Harry looked over and saw that Draco had a serious look in his eyes.

"I figured I would only have one chance to slip away and make the potion. I mean I can't disappear every night! So that's why I asked you to come tonight and help me. That way I'll have more than enough and I don't have to keep sneaking away to make more. But even that plan got ruined. I'm going to get badgered non stop by those four about where I went!" Harry sighed.

"That's not my fault! You said you would be ready to leave. I didn't know Weasley was going to make a grand entrance and drag the rest with him!" Draco argued.

Harry didn't say anything. He couldn't help but grin.

"He really has a problem with you." Harry told him.

"No, really? I would have never guessed!" Draco snapped making Harry laugh. "It's not like I like the idiot anyway. I seriously wonder how you can put up with them." he added shooting Harry a questioning glare.

"They grow on you." Harry responded simply, while measuring out some more powdered dragon claw.

Draco gave a dramatic shudder at the thought.

"No thanks. I would rather drink a tub of Buboter pus than get to know Weasley and Granger! Did you see the way they were reacting just because I went into their stupid common room! Not that I would ever want to go in there willingly." Draco mumbled.

"Don't you start!" Harry playfully scolded him.

"Come on, Harry. I think it is a testament of my friendship that I came to the Gryffindor…_Gryffindor_ common room of all places, to meet you!" He said.

Harry stopped what he was doing and looked at Draco.

"I don't need you to prove your friendship, Draco. You've already done that." he told him quietly.

Uncomfortable silence came at Harry's words. Draco diverted his gaze away from Harry and started adding the next set of ingredients to his cauldron.

He and Harry had never actually spoken about that day in Riddle Manor. It was too awkward and upsetting. Draco had to act like he had deceived Harry. He had to act like he had captured Damien and was handing him over to Voldemort before Harry's eyes. It hadn't been easy and Draco still shuddered at the memory. He had thought the hardest thing would be to face Voldemort and lie to him. It turned out that was nothing compared to lying to his best friend. He could still remember the way Harry had looked at him, so much hurt in his eyes. Draco quickly pushed aside those memories. Harry was fine. He survived all that and was happy now. Well, at least he was acting like he was happy.

Draco took a closer look at Harry as the dark haired teen concentrated on his potion. Draco could see that Harry was far from happy. He remembered how happy Harry was when he was with Voldemort. Compared to that, this Harry was just down right miserable. It really wasn't all that surprising that Harry was depressed though. Everything he had loved had been taken away from him. Instead he was stuck with parents that interfered with the smallest of things and friends that didn't understand him. Not the way he, Draco understood him. They were friends since they were kids. Harry didn't even have to open his mouth most times, Draco would know what he wanted. And his brother, Draco held back the groan that wanted to burst from his mouth at the thought of the fourteen year old. He was so unbelievably naïve. He really thought Harry was going to stick around. Well he was in for a real surprise. Draco knew that it was only a matter of time before Harry gave up and left the whole lot of them. If things kept going on like they were, Harry would probably leave before the end of the school year.

Draco started cutting up the ingredients, thinking about Harry leaving. He wasn't sure if he wanted Harry to leave of not. Being his friend, Draco felt the need for his friend to be happy. And Harry was not happy here. He wasn't a normal kid and having to live like a normal boy was just downright insulting. But, and Draco hated to admit this, there were times Harry was close to happy with the Potters. The way he used to be with Voldemort. He had only seen it a few times. Mostly it was the rare times his parents weren't on his case about one thing or another. If only they were like that all the time.

"Draco?"

The Slytherin looked up to see Harry staring at him.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Why aren't you stirring the potion?" Harry asked.

Draco looked down and saw that his potion was starting to thicken due to the lack of stirring. He quickly stared stirring the mixture, cursing his daydreaming thoughts. Now wasn't the time to think about these things.

Harry shook his head and started adding the finishing touches to his potion.

"If you mess this up, I'll make you drink the whole lot in one go." Harry teased.

Draco threw him a glare.

"Fine, you'll just have to make the whole thing again on your own!" he retorted.

"Why did you want me to help you in the first place? You could have gotten one of the Gryffindorks to help you!" Draco asked, frantically stirring the thickened potion.

Harry smirked at the phrase. Draco used to call them the 'Gryffindorks' when he would tell Harry about his 'Hogwarts adventures'.

"I could have but I didn't. Just deal with it and fix the potion." Harry instructed.

Draco managed to bring the potion back to its correct consistency. He gave a relieved sigh mentally. He didn't know if Harry was joking about making him drink the whole potion in one go. Knowing Harry, it was a real possibility he would do just that.

Both boys sat down giving the potions time to cool before Harry could put it into vials.

"Are you going to tell me why you feel the need to take sleeping potion?" Draco asked once both were seated.

Harry didn't answer right away. He kept his face as relaxed as possible.

"If I were going to, I would have already." Harry answered.

"Harry…" Draco started.

"Spare me the lecture, Draco. I know, possibly more than you, about the dangers of overdosing. I know what I'm doing so stop worrying. Besides, it's not like I'm doing anything wrong." Harry answered.

"Of course not. That's why you're here in the middle of the night, brewing two cauldrons full of the stuff, keeping it from your parents, brother and friends. Well, so called friends." Draco corrected himself.

"I asked you to come tonight so that I wouldn't have to put up with this crap! If I wanted a lecture, I would have asked Hermione to come with me." Harry said.

Draco pulled a disgusted face.

"Don't even joke about that!" Draco said.

Harry ignored the jibe at Hermione. It wasn't as if Draco would stop if he asked him to.

"Look, it not a big deal. I just need it sometimes." Harry tried not to think about the truth, that he needed it every night. It took all of Harry's will power to give himself the required break from the potion to avoid addiction. He could only take the potion for one week at a time. He would then have to stop taking the potion for two weeks at least before taking anymore.

Harry watched his best friend struggle to come up with an argument.

"You can do what you like. You always have. But Harry, just watch yourself. Addiction to this stuff is not something to joke about." He said seriously.

Harry laughed at the expression on the Slytherin's face.

"Merlin, Draco. I don't think I've ever seen you this serious!" he joked.

Draco gave up talking to Harry about this. He knew Harry wouldn't listen to him anyway.

xxx

The next morning, as Harry walked into the common room, he found himself being flooded with questions by all four. They all wanted to know where he had gone with Draco.

"And give me back my map!" Damien shouted at him.

With a playful smirk, Harry pulled the map out of his pocket. Damien was quick to swipe it from Harry's hand. He stuffed the map into his pocket all the while glaring at Harry.

"I can't believe you stole the map from me!" he complained.

"I didn't steal it. I _borrowed_ it." Harry said and headed towards the portrait door.

"You're not going to tell us where you went, are you?" Ron asked, his voice steely and cold.

"No" Harry simply answered.

The four looked to each other agreeing silently to not question Harry further but to figure out a way to find out where they had gone.

Ron kept a close eye on Harry from then on. He knew that Harry wouldn't listen to him if he told him his theory on Draco, since he was actually friends with the arrogant Slytherin but Ron knew that something was not right with him. Draco was not a nice person. He had been in Hogwarts for seven years now, and not once did he show even an ounce of compassion for anyone. He wasn't a friend because he simply didn't know what being a friend meant.

Ron didn't believe that what Draco had done to get the Aurors to Riddle Manor was genuine either. From what Ron had seen. Draco wasn't given a choice in the matter. Professor Dumbledore and Snape had basically put him on the spot and told him he was to help them. That was probably the only reason why Draco went along with it. In any case, his father was a filthy Death Eater, as if he would let Voldemort hurt Draco! Ron had his mind set on the decision that Draco was not a friend and he was certainly up to no good. The further away he was from Harry and the rest of them, the better it was.

xxx

Ron pulled the covers closer to him as he quietly watched Harry pull out another vial of potion. Harry thought no one was watching, he had good reason to think that. It was three in the morning and usually everyone was fast asleep.

Ron however couldn't sleep. His mind was warped with worry. He had received a letter that morning from Charlie. He was back in Romania, working with Dragons. He had written to him, instructing him strictly to keep Ginny away from Harry. Ron didn't want to think about all the things he had said about Harry. Calling him names like 'heartless killer' and 'cold and cruel'. It was upsetting to say the least. Ron had thrown the letter in the fire and hadn't told anyone about it. Not even Hermione. He couldn't understand why Charlie was so against Harry. That day in Hogsmeade, when Damien was talking to him, Ron was sure Charlie was going to change. But after Harry's attack on the Daywalkers, Charlie's rejection of him became more resolute. He wasn't ready to listen to anything anyone had to say. In his eyes Harry was just as bad as…Ron shut his eyes to try and forget what Charlie had written. '_Just as evil as Voldemort!_'

Ron was awake when he heard Harry open the drawer quietly. He peeked out of his drapes and saw Harry opening the vial and draining it in one go. Ron watched as Harry disappeared behind his drapes. Ron felt his heart speed up at the thought of what he had just witnessed. Harry looked really shaken up. From the quick glimpse he had seen of him, he was pale and shivering. His hands were shaking when he uncorked the vial. It wasn't all that hard to decipher what had happened. Harry had had a nightmare. Ron knew what Harry must have taken just now. It could be only one thing. Dreamless sleeping potion. Ron felt his skin tingle with worry. That must have been what he had taken a few nights ago as well. How often was Harry taking this potion? Surely he knew what the repercussions were of taking too much. Everyone knew about what the addiction to sleeping potions could do to a person.

Ron decided he was going to speak to Harry about this. He was fairly certain what the outcome was going to be but he still felt he should tell him that he knew about him taking the potion.

'I'm probably over reacting anyway. This is probably the only two times he's taken the potion. It's a coincidence that I happen to catch it both times.' he thought to himself.

But even as Ron fell into a fitful sleep he knew that that was only wishful thinking. He had caught Harry taking the potion twice in the space of ten days. He had only caught Harry on these two occasions. Merlin knew how many times Harry had taken the potion without anyone knowing.

xxx

Harry walked down to breakfast with his usual friends. He tried to will the headache to go away but it didn't work. Harry had woken up feeling very unwell. He knew that he had somehow come down with a fever. 'How the hell did that happen?' he asked himself.

He walked into the Great Hall and had to suppress the moan as the bright morning light blinded him and made his headache worse. Suppressing the need to be sick, Harry blindly made his way to the table. He sat down and just looked at the food, knowing he couldn't possibly eat anything.

"Guys, I'll catch up with you in class. I just remembered I forgot my transfiguration book." Harry made up an excuse to leave.

"We don't have transfiguration today, Harry." Hermione dutifully reminded him.

Harry sat back down and glared at Hermione. 'Why the hell does she know everything!' he thought to himself.

"Eat something, Harry." Hermione said looking worriedly at him.

Harry eyed the plate of food Hermione had filled and pushed towards him. His headache was making it difficult to talk but he still managed to hiss at her.

"Leave me alone, Hermione."

Hermione looked at him with surprise. Ron, Damien and Ginny all looked up at him with shock.

"Harry, I'm only trying…"

"Just stop playing mother with me. It annoys the hell out of me." Harry said, rubbing at his temples in a bid to relieve the pain he was in.

"I'm sorry." Hermione said, obviously hurt over Harry's words. "I'm only trying to help. Your appetite has really gone down lately. I can't remember you having a decent amount to eat. You just skip meals and if you don't you just nibble at your food. I'm worried about you." Hermione said looking truly upset.

Harry on the other hand just got more annoyed. He wasn't the most sensitive of people at best of times. When he was ill, it just made him all the more short-tempered.

"I told you before, Hermione. I've got both my parents here. I don't need you to worry about me! Just concentrate on your own health and leave me alone." With that said Harry got up and left, leaving the four to stare at him in shock.

Harry just made it to the boy's bathroom before throwing up. Like Hermione had said, he hadn't eaten anything so didn't actually have anything inside him to bring back up. The dry heaving only made his headache thump more painfully. Harry sat on the floor, holding his head and moaning quietly at the pain.

He could feel tremors running up and down his back and he shivered at the sensation. He got up and splashed his face with some warm water. He felt awful. He debated whether he would get away with going back to his bed.

'There's no point. I won't be able to sleep anyway and I can't take another dose of the sleeping potion since I took one just last night.' He told himself.

Hating how ill he felt, Harry dragged himself to his first class which was Charms. He walked inside and sat down next to Ron. Hermione was sitting on his other side and just ignored him.

As the class went on, Harry grew to feel worse and worse. The voice of the Professor was making his headache thump painfully. Harry shut his eyes and tried to will the pain to go away. It didn't work.

The day went by with Harry feeling relatively worse. He skipped lunch, again as the mere thought if food made his stomach lurch. By the end of the day, Harry was completely fatigued. He dragged himself up to his room, not wanting anyone to see how ill he was. He pulled out his wooden box and took out a fever reducing potion. He had restocked his box after the Hogsmeade incident. Harry gulped the potion down and willed himself not to bring it back up. Feeling his shivers intensify, Harry bundled himself up into his bed and fell into a fevered sleep.

By the time Ron came into the room, Harry was in a deep sleep. Ron went to bed, promising himself to talk to Harry tomorrow.

xxx

"Harry, wake up."

No response. Ron tried again.

"You have to get up now."

Still no response.

"Harry, I'm not saying it again. Get your lazy arse up, now!" Ron shouted.

A mumbled word sounding like 'okay' was heard from Harry's bed and Ron left to wait in the common room. However, Harry didn't come and after waiting twenty minutes, the four left to get breakfast.

"Maybe I should have checked up on him." Damien muttered, staring at the doors, waiting for Harry to come in.

"He would probably bite your head off as well." Hermione said still furious about the way Harry had spoke to her the day before. He had totally ignored her for the rest of the day as well.

Damien didn't reply but kept his eyes glued to the door. Harry didn't come down to breakfast. At the staff table, James and Lily were watching the doors as well, waiting for their eldest son to make an appearance. It had bothered them that he had been missing from mealtimes all day yesterday. They had seen him briefly at breakfast but not after that.

'He's probably just running late.' James thought as he finished his own breakfast.

None of them knew that Harry had fallen back into his fevered sleep. His body trembling as the fever worsened. His entire body was soaked with sweat, making his clothes stick to him. Even if Harry was awake, he wouldn't have been able to get up and attend any classes.

xxx

The first class of the day for the seventh years was Defence. James watched as Ron and Hermione walked in without Harry. His heart sped up at the thought of Harry missing. Ron met his eyes and shrugged at him, indicating that he didn't know why Harry was missing. James couldn't leave the class to go and look for Harry, so he dutifully carried on with his lesson. He was getting very tired and annoyed with Harry's disappearances.

As soon as class ended, Ron walked over to James. He could tell throughout the entire lecture that James wanted to ask him about Harry.

"Last time I saw him he was still in bed." Ron told him when asked about Harry's whereabouts.

"In bed?" James asked, surprised. Harry wasn't a lazy person. Why wasn't he up yet?

James headed up to check on Harry. Surely Harry couldn't still be in bed, could he? James walked into the Gryffindor common room and headed straight for Harry's dorm. Sure enough he spotted the drapes still closed over Harry's bed. He knew something wasn't right.

He approached the bed and called out to him.

"Harry? Are you awake?"

There was no answer.

James gently pulled the drapes open and stared at the sight of his son asleep, sweat clinging to him making his hair stick to his head. James reached out and brushed the hair away from Harry's forehead. His fingers brushed against Harry's skin and James knew at once that Harry had a fever. He put his hand onto Harry's forehead and gasped. He was burning up!

James pulled the covers away from Harry's burning body. He needed to cool down. As he did that, Harry's eyes cracked open. He looked confusedly at him.

"Dad?" he croaked. His throat was dry.

"Yeah, it's me." James responded, feeling the strong paternal instinct kicking in. He couldn't stand seeing anyone ill, let alone his own son.

Harry's eyes opened fully and he looked around the room, obviously confused why James was in his dorm.

"What…what are you doing here?" Harry asked, trying to sit up but his body was aching and he didn't seem to have the energy to move.

"Checking up on you." James answered. "Why didn't you tell anyone you were unwell?" James asked as he grabbed the jug of water and poured Harry a glass of water.

At once, Harry's defences kicked in.

"I'm not ill!" he exclaimed.

James rolled his eyes.

"Really? Well, I would have to disagree since you can't even leave your bed at the moment." Perhaps that wasn't the best thing to say to him.

Harry glared at his dad and at once forced himself to get up. James watched as Harry struggled to get up. Harry only managed to pull himself up into a sitting position. James handed him the glass of water and he quietly took it. James could see the pain and fever cloud his eyes.

"What happened to you? How did you fall ill?" James asked.

Harry looked up at him. He looked ready to argue that he wasn't ill but then thought better of it.

"I don't know. I just woke up yesterday feeling like this." Harry admitted.

James thought he had misheard. Harry was feeling like this since yesterday? Why did he not tell anyone? James watched as Harry sipped the water and shakily place it on the bedside drawer.

"Were you planning on letting anyone know how you were feeling?" James asked as calmly as he could.

Harry looked at him as if he were mad.

"Um…no, actually." Harry said hesitantly.

James could only look at him in annoyance.

"Why would I tell anyone? It's got nothing to do with them." Harry answered; clearly confused as to why anyone would be interested in knowing he was ill.

James felt his stomach flip over. This was probably because of Harry's upbringing again. James couldn't see anyone in the Riddle Manor caring if Harry was ill. Not after the kind of abuse they put him through when he was only a child. James felt his nails digging painfully into his palms. He realised he had clenched his fists into tight balls. He relaxed and tried not to think about that.

"If you're feeling unwell then I want you to let either me or your mum know. I don't ever want you to suffer alone again, understand?" James said as patiently as he could.

Harry looked annoyed at that.

"I'm seventeen, dad." He said.

"So? Do seventeen year olds not get ill? Do they not need to be looked after when they're ill?" James asked staring at Harry.

Harry looked away from James seemingly lost for words.

"I don't like people making a big deal about me. It's best to be alone when you're ill." Harry said not looking at James.

"Not anymore it isn't." James said standing up. "Come on, you're going to the hospital wing."

No matter how much Harry argued, James managed to get him up to the hospital wing. He left Harry in Poppy's care. He was already late for his next lesson. Poppy took over happily and started handing Harry vials of potions.

"Here, take some sleeping potion. The more you sleep the more you will heal." Poppy said holding out the last small vial.

Harry looked at the vial. He really wanted to take it, to sleep. He knew he was going be disturbed with nightmares if he didn't. He was about to reach out to take it but then his rational side kicked in.

"No, Poppy, thanks but I've already slept so much. I'll just stay up and read over what I'm missing in class." He said.

Poppy looked at Harry with surprise. She gave him a calculating look which seemed to make Harry nervous.

"I'm sure you're not missing anything you don't already know. Take the potion and sleep. You're not in a fit state to study." She said holding out the vial again.

Harry looked at the vial. He really, really wanted it. One more time couldn't hurt could it? Plus, he had not taken it since the night before last night. Surely it wouldn't hurt. He reached out and took the vial from her and gulped it down before he could change his mind.

xxx

Harry woke up as he felt a soothing hand touch his burning forehead. He opened his eyes and saw his mum looking at him. She smiled as she saw him wake up.

"Hi" she said quietly.

"Hey" Harry croaked.

He still felt awful. He could tell his fever was still there, making him feel, if possible, worse than before. His entire body ached and his headache was making him feel sick.

He saw Damien and his friends sitting next to his mum and suddenly found the scene really funny.

He chuckled quietly making his mum look at him with surprise.

"What?" she asked. She didn't think anything was funny about being so ill.

"You all look like you're sitting at my deathbed." Harry joked.

The colour drained from Lily's face and she looked at Harry with barley hidden hurt.

"Shut up, Harry!" Ginny said coming to sit next to him on the bed.

Harry laughed again, but wished he hadn't. The pain in his head shot up to a new level, cutting his laugh short.

Poppy came out of her office and tutted at Ginny. She quickly scrambled off the bed and sat down on her seat. Poppy came over and started checking Harry. She let out a frustrated groan.

"Your temperature is still too high! I don't understand. I've given you plenty of fever reducing potion. Your fever should have broken by now. You should be feeling better!" she said as she took Harry's temperature again.

Harry's vision swam and he grabbed at his head groaning at the pain.

"Can't you do something about this headache?" Harry asked, hating how he sounded in front of his friends. They had seen him ill before but it still didn't make it any less embarrassing.

"I've given you all I can for today. You can't have anymore pain relief." Poppy told him apologetically.

'Anymore' Harry thought to himself he didn't feel like he had had any pain relief at all. He didn't say anything though.

"I just don't understand." Poppy continued to complain.

"Madame Pomfrey, do the potions work on an empty stomach?" Damien asked suddenly.

Harry glared at him but that didn't make the younger boy keep quiet.

"They should, why?" the school nurse asked.

"Just because Harry's not had anything to eat for the last two days now." Damien told them.

Harry actually flinched as both Lily and Poppy glared at him. He silently promised himself to teach Damien not to tattle on him again.

"Two days!?!" Lily positively screeched.

"It's not…I wasn't hungry." Harry tried to tell her.

He got a glimpse of Hermione looking very smug. He could feel his headache worsen.

Lily got up and headed to the door. She was obviously going to get something for Harry to eat. Harry gave Damien a death glare.

"Oh come on, Harry! Don't look at me like that. You know those don't work on me." Damien told him cheekily.

Harry didn't stop glaring at him until Lily came back in, holding a bowl of steaming soup.

"Drink this, all of it!" she commanded.

"Mum…"

"I don't want to hear it! Drink it!" she instructed.

Harry grabbed at his head as Lily's shouting made his head throb.

"Please, don't shout." Harry said in pain.

At once Lily backed off. She put the bowl on to the bedside table and started rubbing circles in his back to help him. Harry however, shrugged her away. He really hated being touched when he was ill, too many awful memories.

Poppy looked on in worry.

"When was your last proper meal?" Lily asked.

Harry couldn't answer, primarily because he was trying to will his stomach to keep down all the potions he was fed earlier. Hermione answered for him.

"He hasn't been eating properly or a while now." She said.

Then, ignoring the pained look Harry gave her, she continued.

"He usually just skips meals. If not then he'll just pick at the food. He doesn't eat proper meals. He hasn't since, since Valentine's day." She finished awkwardly.

Harry didn't meet anyone gaze. He couldn't believe Hermione had just sold him out like that. He was so angry with her.

Lily looked at Harry, feeling the urge to comfort him. To embrace him and take away all his problems. But she knew she couldn't. She blinked away the tears.

Poppy was looking at Harry as well. A look of worry and fear on her face. She had an awful thought. Persistent fever, no response to potions and loss of appetite. Harry couldn't be…no, no he couldn't be. It had to be something else. Still, knowing she wouldn't rest until she had satisfied this fear, she stepped forward.

"Harry, I'm going to do a small blood test. It's only to try and figure out why your fever isn't breaking." She assured him.

She took the blood sample and hurried into her office. To frazzled to even tell the visitors to leave and let her patient rest.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Can you guess what's wrong with Harry? I know this may seem irrelevent to the Dark Prince plot but I can assure you it's not. It will all come together soon. Promise! Please Review! Cheers!!


	19. Health issues

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Hey guys! Thanks so much for all your reviews. Here is the next chappie! Enjoy!!

**Chapter Nineteen**

Poppy stood in her office, staring at the results of the blood test. It couldn't be right! She had already run the test three times, refusing to accept the results. She bit her bottom lip as she always did when extremely upset. Her hand shook so much she had to put the vial down. She collapsed onto her chair and lowered her head into her hands.

How could this have happened? Harry was not careless. He wasn't someone who could let something let this happen to himself. Poppy stood up on shaking legs and walked out of her office. She saw Harry lying on the bed, fast asleep. His visitors had all left. She bit her bottom lip again and willed the tears to go away. She went over to him and gave a quick check over. As predicted the fever still hadn't broken and it would probably be morning before it would break. Biting back the emotions, she left Harry in his fevered condition. After all there wasn't anything she could do for him.

As soon as it was morning, Poppy hurried over to see Harry. She wanted to speak to him about the test results as soon as possible. As soon as she walked in, she saw to her surprise that Harry wasn't alone. She saw Harry sitting up in bed, fully awake with James was sitting next to him. Both were conversing quietly. Poppy noticed how much more relaxed Harry was now that he was with his father. She watched as Harry laughed at whatever comment James had made.

Poppy walked over to him, watching as Harry's face broke into a tired smile at the sight of her.

"Madame Pomfrey. Any idea what caused Harry to get sick?" James asked calmly as the school nurse approached them.

Poppy looked at the Auror and felt her heart jump at the thought. How was he going to react? As much as she wanted to, she knew she couldn't tell James or Lily until she had told Harry first. After her argument with Lily a few months ago, she wasn't exactly looking forward to telling her.

Instead of answering, Poppy decided to check Harry again. She took his temperature and let out a sigh of relief. The dreaded fever had at last broke. She ran her wand up and down Harry's body, relieved that he was in no longer in pain.

"The fever's gone. I just need to check over a few other things then you'll be able to leave." Poppy told him as calmly as she could.

"Great" Harry responded.

"Alright, I better get going. I don't want to let my class wait like yesterday." James said as he got up.

"Yeah, they'll be really disappointed." Harry mocked.

James' only response was to throw him a playful glare before heading out the door.

Poppy went over to stand next to Harry, her heart beating wildly in her chest.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, stalling for time.

"I feel fine." Harry responded, failing to notice the nervousness in her voice.

Poppy couldn't find the right way to start the conversation. She was trying very hard to push to anger down. It wasn't Harry's fault. He hadn't done this on purpose. But on the other hand, someone who was as talented as Harry was and knew so much about magic should have been more careful.

"Poppy?"

The nurse looked up to see Harry staring at her.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

'No' her mind screamed. She took a deep breath to calm herself before sitting on the side of his bed.

"Harry, I'm going to ask you something and I want an honest answer." She started.

Harry nodded to show he understood. He would have made a joke about the way she was acting but something about her voice made him stop.

"Other than yesterday, when did you last take the dreamless sleeping potion?"

The question threw Harry and he was left gaping at her. Poppy's face hardened at the reaction as she clearly got her answer.

"I see." She muttered.

"What's the sleeping potion got to do with anything?" Harry asked, feeling the slow panic creeping up inside of him.

Poppy looked at him carefully before answering in a steady voice. She wasn't going to show how effected she was at this.

"I had a suspicion last night as to your illness. The blood sample I took from you was used to run a test. It was confirmed as positive. All the symptoms you showed, persistent fever, lack of response to potions and your loss of appetite. It all points to one thing." She looked at him directly, holding his gaze before continuing.

"It confirms that you are in Phase one of addiction to sleeping potion."

Harry could only stare at her. Her words ringing in his ears but not really sinking in. When they did finally sink in, Harry immediately rejected them.

"That's not possible." He said, his voice surprisingly shaky.

"Harry, I carried out the test. It confirms that you are addicted." Poppy tried to tell him.

"Then do it again! You're mistaken." Harry said.

Poppy didn't know what to say that would make him believe her.

"Harry, I carried out the test three times just to make sure. I wouldn't say anything if I wasn't one hundred percent certain. I'm sorry." she added emotionally.

Harry pulled himself out of the bed, this wasn't happening. It couldn't be happening. He couldn't have become addicted. He was so careful. He suffered sleepless nights just so that he didn't run the risk to addiction. How could this have happened?

"Harry, please sit down." Poppy said trying to calm Harry down.

"I don't understand! This couldn't have happened! I can't be addicted. I did everything right! I took the required breaks from the doses. I stayed away from the potion for two weeks at a time! This couldn't have happened." Harry said, voicing his thoughts. He was pacing the floor, hands shaking.

"Tell me honestly. How often did you take the potion?" Poppy asked.

Harry looked at her, his eyes trying to focus on her.

"I…I don't really know. I took the potion only when it became too much. If I did take it regularly I gave myself two weeks break. I just don't understand!" Harry said again.

"Did you ever take the potion consecutively for more than a week?" Poppy asked, already knowing the answer.

Harry's head snapped up to look at her.

"Once, I…I did only once. I knew I shouldn't have but…but once couldn't possibly lead to addiction!" Harry exclaimed.

"Think about it, Harry! It couldn't have been only once. It must have been many times!" Poppy was beginning to lose her temper.

Harry shook his head.

"No, no I only took it once." He argued.

."It doesn't really matter now. There's not much you can do about it. Harry, you have to listen to me very carefully." Poppy walked over and stood directly in front of Harry. She took a deep breath. This was the hard part, telling him what was going to happen

"You are in Phase one. Things haven't gone far enough yet. You have a chance to fix this. Now, listen to me. You can not under any circumstance, take any more sleeping potion! Do you understand me?"

Harry nodded his head, he already knew that. Poppy continued.

"If you stay away from the sleeping potion, you body will adjust itself back to normal. It's gong to be a nightmare. Your body will crave for the potion but you have to resist. It will be painful but that's nothing compared to the pain you'll go through if you don't give it up." Poppy had to calm herself before explaining further. The thought of Harry possibly going through this was killing her.

"If you enter Phase two, you will get sick. Really sick. The sleeping potion will start to become toxic for you. Your addiction will force you to keep on consuming it and the more you consume the more ill you will get. It starts to affect the lungs first, then other organs. You will get weak and no amount of magic will be able to save you. Phase three is when it becomes fatal. You'll be so ill you won't be able to move around. Your weight will fall and your bones will become brittle. Your magic will also suffer as your core becomes weak. The potion will destroy everything internally before…before killing you." she whispered the last few words.

Poppy watched as her words had the effect on Harry. His eyes were clouded with fear. He didn't want that to happen to him. He was too proud a person to let himself get that weak or vulnerable. He looked up at Poppy.

"I won't touch it again. I promise." He said sincerely.

"I really hope you stay true to that promise." Poppy said with some relief.

"Isn't there something you can give me, something that can cancel out the effects of the potion?" Harry asked. He knew the answer in the back of his mind but he wanted to ask Poppy just in case.

"No, Harry. The sleeping potion is actually the only potion that can't be cancelled out. That is why no other potion was working on you yesterday, because you had too much sleeping potion in you. Once your system is clear of the sleeping potion, other potions can work on you." she told him.

Harry nodded his head. This was really messed up. He couldn't sleep for even a few minutes without the sleeping potion and now he couldn't take anymore potions unless he wanted to sign his life away. He was trembling at the thought of what he would have to endure night after night because of this.

Poppy mistook his trembling as fear of becoming ill. She put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"You can do this, Harry. You can fight this." she assured him. "Now, I don't know how to tell your parents. They're going to be really upset…" Poppy started.

Harry stood up quickly, heart about to explode in his chest at the thought.

"Poppy, please don't tell them just yet! Let me figure out a way to tell them." he pleaded. He had only just started to have a somewhat normal relationship with his dad. If he were to find out about this, he would so angry with Harry that he would never trust him again.

"Harry, I'm sorry. I'm bound by law to tell them that you have an addiction. I'm sorry." she said sympathetically.

Harry collapsed onto the bed, a defeated look on his face.

'He's going to kill me.' he thought to himself.

Poppy looked on in pity. She hated seeing Harry like this. She reached out and squeezed his shoulder comfortingly.

"I'll let you tell them." she said softly.

Harry looked at her gratefully.

"Thanks, Poppy." he replied.

"Just make sure you tell them in the next few days. If you don't then I'm afraid I'll have to." Poppy explained.

Harry nodded his head, miserable at the mere thought of how he was going to tell them.

He sat with Poppy in silence, trying to come to terms what was happening to him.

xxx

Harry didn't go to any classes that day. After leaving the hospital wing he went straight for his dorm and sat on his bed, the drapes pulled tightly around his bed shielding him from the rest of the castle.

He was completely overwhelmed with what he had learnt. How on earth had he managed to get himself addicted? It wasn't like him to do something like this. He had given himself the required breaks regularly. For two weeks at a time he suffered with minimal sleep just so that he didn't overdose. He had suffered all that in vain. He still managed to become addicted.

Harry opened his trunk and eyed the potions he and Draco had brewed. He should destroy them all. He wasn't going t be able to drink any of them. Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at the stack of potions. He knew he should destroy them. There was no point in keeping them but something in Harry didn't want to destroy them. He sat pointing his wand at the potions for a few minutes, willing himself to say the hex and be done with it.

"This is ridiculous!" he exclaimed loudly as he pulled his wand away.

'They're not of anymore use to me. I can't take any of this stuff!' he thought, willing himself to destroy them.

Finally he dropped his hand away from his trunk. He couldn't do it. Just seeing the potions there, in front of him was giving him some weird sense of relief. As if he could sleep knowing the potions were there. Even though he knew he couldn't actually take any.

Sighing in frustration, Harry slammed his trunk shut and pushed it under his bed again. 'This can't be good!' he thought to himself as he lay on his back, eyeing his ceiling angrily.

xxx

Harry was walking down the darkened corridor. He didn't know where he going. Maybe he was heading to the Great Hall for dinner? Yes, that was it. He was going to have something to eat. After that he would do the impossible task of telling his parents what he had got himself into.

Harry let out a shaky breath and continued walking. He was all alone, walking down the narrowed corridor. 'I wonder where everyone is?' he thought. He looked around himself and suddenly stopped in his tracks. The walls were dark, very dark. He didn't remember Hogwarts having corridors this dark. He eyed the walls again and let out a gasp of horror. He was standing in Riddle Manor.

"No, no, no! not now, please not now!" he whispered under his breath. He whirled around and started going back up the way he came. He was dreaming. He must have fallen asleep. He had to wake up! He had to wake up before he came. He couldn't stand seeing him again. Watching him burn again!

Harry looked around in desperation. He had to wake up. How could he wake himself up?

Just as Harry turned the corridor he saw him. He stopped in his tracks, eyes wide with fear and pain. Voldemort was standing before him. Dressed in his usual black robes, red eyes fixed on him. Harry stood rooted to the spot. He felt like someone had performed the 'Pertificus Totalus' curse on him. He couldn't move, couldn't turn away.

The smoke started coming out of Voldemort's robes and Harry let out an anguished moan.

"Please, no, no!" he cried as he saw flames leap out and lick their way across Voldemort's chest. Voldemort's pained gaze was fixed on Harry. His eyes never leaving the crying figure.

"Harry…!"

Harry shot up in his bed, tears clinging to his face. His breathing was harsh and heavy and he was trembling from head to foot.

"Harry! Mate, are you alright?"

Harry looked around to locate the worried voice and saw Ron standing at the foot of his bed. Harry tried to stop his trembling and look somewhat normal but it was in vain. He was shaken up by the familiar nightmare and Ron had seen it.

"I'm fine." Harry managed to say, cursing his voice for shaking so much.

Ron looked at him in disbelief. He turned to face the door and locked it in a swift move. He sat down on Harry's bed after handing him a glass of water. Harry took it gratefully and downed it in one shaky go.

"I came to see if you wanted any dinner." Ron explained.

Harry shook his head, he couldn't eat anything. Not right now.

"Was it…is it Voldemort?" Ron asked a nervous tinge to his voice.

Harry looked up at him in surprise.

"What?" he asked.

"Your nightmares? Are they about Voldemort?" Ron asked again.

Harry's immediate response was to deny having nightmares. But as he was currently sitting on his bed, drenched in sweat, trembling from head to foot, he had no other option but to answer truthfully.

"You can't tell anyone." Harry said at once.

Ron was taken back. He had never heard Harry sounding so…vulnerable. Ron had always thought of Harry as the strongest person he had ever met. He had gone through so much and Ron knew deep down that there were very few people in this world that would be able to go through everything he had.

"I would never tell anyone. It's not my place to say anything." Ron assured him. Harry looked relieved. "You can tell me if you like, about your nightmares. I swear I won't breathe a word of it to anyone." Ron said in an uncertain voice.

Harry looked like he was seriously contemplating telling his friend. But just as quick as the thought came to him, it disappeared again. Ron wouldn't understand. Voldemort had hurt him, hurt his brother. Ron wouldn't have any sympathy. Harry could tell by the tone of voice Ron had used that he didn't really want to discuss Voldemort. He was just offering support like a good friend would.

"Its okay, Ron. It's not really that big a deal. I'll handle it." Harry said.

Before Ron could say anymore, Harry threw his legs over the bed and got up. "You want to go and get some food?" Harry said. He wasn't going to eat anything but he knew his friend had a big appetite.

Ron opened his mouth to speak. Now was the perfect time to talk to Harry about the sleep potion.

"Harry, before we go I want to tell you something. I saw you, a few nights ago." Ron took a deep breath before going on. "I saw you take the Dreamless Sleeping potion."

Harry's eyes widened with that statement. Ron was staring at him with concern.

"Look, mate. I know you're probably more aware of the risks than me…" Harry squirmed at that. "…but I just thought I should say that I saw you taking it twice in the space of ten days. I just want to say that if you're talking the potion because of the…the nightmares then you should tell someone."

"Really? Like who?" Harry snapped back.

He was sick of this. Sick of the empty offers to talk to him about his problems. Nobody was really willing to speak to him about Voldemort. Not his parents, not his friends. Harry knew without a doubt that even Damien wouldn't want to talk to him about Voldemort.

Ron shifted his weight uncomfortably. He didn't want Harry to get mad at him.

"You could talk to your parents. If not then, then I'm…I'm here. You know, you can talk to me, or maybe Hermione." Ron offered.

Harry rolled his eyes at the feeble offer.

"I'm fine and I don't need to talk to anyone. Don't worry about the potion. I won't be taking anymore." Harry left it at that and headed out the door with Ron behind him.

Ron let out a sigh of relief. That went better than he had expected.

xxx

Harry rubbed at his tired eyes and willed himself not to fall asleep at the table. It had been two weeks since Poppy had told him about his addiction. Harry had stayed true to his word and had not touched the potion. But that meant that since that day, Harry hadn't slept. Not even for a moment. Before he used to be able to sleep for an hour or two before the nightmares woke him up but now he found the nightmares started as soon as he closed his eyes.

Harry found his nightmares getting worse. He couldn't cope with them. His friends and brother had noticed the dark circles under his eyes and his unusual lethargic behaviour. Ginny had asked him repeatedly what was wrong but like always, Harry told her it was nothing. Ron was the only one who knew part of the truth. He knew Harry wasn't taking the sleeping potion and now was suffering lack of sleep because of that.

Harry was still giving Hermione and Damien the cold shoulder after they both had sold him out to Poppy and his mum. Damien, as usual didn't let Harry's cold behaviour bother him. He treated him like normal. Hermione on the other hand was trying to not let herself be bothered by it but was losing the fighting battle.

Harry knew they would find out about the addiction soon as would his parents but he couldn't find it in himself to tell them. Poppy had stopped him in the corridor yesterday and asked him if he had spoken to them yet. She had threatened to tell them herself if he didn't do it soon. Harry decided that he would do it tomorrow. It was a Saturday and he would get the chance to talk to them without anyone disturbing them.

He trudged up the stairs feeling the headache worsen. He found that his body was slowly going through the withdrawals from the lack of the potion. Poppy was right, it was painful. He felt like his headache never went away. He could barely keep his eyes open and had tried everything to keep himself awake.

Harry felt the desire to pull out the potion from his trunk and drink it. '_Just one more time. One last time to get me through. I can handle it, Ill quit it after that._' Harry shook his head at the thought. He remembered what Poppy had told him. He wouldn't let himself get any worse. He wasn't going to be vulnerable. He wasn't weak.

He closed his eyes, wishing he could just sleep. Even for just a few minutes. That would be bliss.

xxx

Harry walked into the small room that served as Lily's living quarters and sat down on the sofa. He was exhausted. Another night of virtually no sleep had taken its toll on him.

Lily closed the door and sat down opposite her tired looking son.

"Are you alright?" she asked as she took in the dark circles under his eyes and the fatigued look on his face.

Harry nodded his head.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Lily looked at him, scrutinising him with her eyes. He was far from okay. He was not sleeping. That much was obvious. She had noticed the last few days how exhausted he was looking. She was actually planning on talking to him when he had arrived at her door.

Lily had spoken to James about Harry and had failed yet again to convince him to talk to Harry about his obvious sleepless nights. She had decided last night that if he wasn't going to do it, then she would.

"Harry, I really need to talk to you about something." She started, putting down her teacup.

Harry looked at her through bloodshot eyes.

"Yeah, um…I wanted to talk to you as well." He said, pushing his untouched teacup away.

"Can I go first?" Lily asked quickly.

"Yeah sure." Harry answered. The more he could stall telling her about his health the better.

Lily looked uncomfortably at him. How was the best way to start this conversation? She decided to start with how she found the empty potion vial and her talk with Poppy.

"Harry, I know about your sleeping problem and the sleeping potion." She said in a heavy voice.

Harry's head snapped up to look at her. She already knew?

"How?" he managed to ask.

"Poppy told me." Lily answered truthfully.

Harry felt his heart flip in his chest. Poppy had told her! She had promised to let him be the one to tell his parents. He had met her the other day. She had threatened to tell James and Lily but Harry didn't seriously think she would do that. Not this quickly anyway.

Of course, unknown to Harry, Lily was referring to the time she had confronted Poppy about the empty potion vial she found in Harry's room. Poppy had told her that Harry was having trouble sleeping and had gone to her for help.

"Harry, I'm really upset about this." Lily went on. Harry looked at her with a very guilty expression. "I can't believe you were suffering and you chose to keep that to yourself."

"I can't believe she told you." he whispered. Lily looked at him in surprise.

"Why not? I am your mother. She should have told me this from the very beginning, the first time you took a dreamless sleeping potion." Lily reprimanded.

Harry looked away from his mum in shame.

"Why didn't you come to me? Why didn't you tell me you were going through…through all of this?" she asked gently. She was referring to the nightmares that he was suffering from.

"I wanted to. I just figured there wasn't anything you could do." Harry answered truthfully. Lily looked at him with deep emotions in her eyes.

"I could have done something. Sometimes just having someone there to listen to you can be half the battle." Lily replied.

Harry was so relieved his mum was taking his addiction problem really well. He had expected her to be inconsolably emotional. He was really thankful she was so cool.

"Look, mum. I know that I messed up. I honestly still don't know how it all happened but I promise I'll fix this."

Lily looked at Harry in confusion. 'What's he talking about? Fix what? What has he messed up?' she thought to herself.

"I won't let the addiction get any worse. I won't touch the stuff again, I swear."

At Harry's words Lily felt her world come crashing down. Addiction? Harry was addicted? She saw the fatigue on Harry face and it all suddenly became very clear.

Harry was taking all those sleeping potions. He hadn't spoken to anyone regarding his nightmares and so they continued tormenting him. Somehow, he had overdosed on the potion and now he was addicted. Lily was shaking. Harry was addicted to the sleeping potion! She had seen firsthand what potion addiction did to people and their families. It wasn't something to take on easily. It destroyed the sufferer from the inside out.

"You…you're addicted?" she asked painfully.

Harry stopped talking and looked at her. It was clear from her shocked expression that she didn't know.

"You said that you had spoken to Poppy." Harry said, confused to what was happening.

"Yes, I spoke to her a few weeks back about you taking Dreamless sleeping potion! She didn't say anything about you being addicted!" Lily said heatedly, her face growing red.

Harry closed his eyes and groaned. Great, this was just great. What a brilliant way to tell your mum that your health was at risk.

"Mum…"

But Lily was too far gone to hear Harry. She had got up from the chair and was pacing the floor, much like James.

"I can't believe this…you're…you're…addicted! How can you be addicted? How much did you take?" she asked turning to him.

"I don't really know. A lot." Harry answered truthfully.

Lily let out a moan and collapsed in her chair, head held in her hands.

"Did Poppy tell you what Phase you were in?" she asked after regaining control.

"First." Harry answered quietly.

Lily looked a little relieved.

"First phase? Okay, that means that you have a chance to fix this. Now, listen Harry, you can't take anymore potion! Do you understand? Not even one single drop! Okay?"

Harry bit his tongue to stop himself from answering angrily. He hated it when he was spoken to like he were five years old. Poppy had done the same. Instead Harry kept a strong grip on his temper and turned to his mum.

"Yes, mum." He managed to say through gritted teeth.

Lily didn't notice. She was up pacing the room again, wringing her hands in worry.

"I'll call your dad. He's in his room talking with Moody."

"Moody?" Harry asked in surprise.

"He's here to take over the Duelling club." Lily answered distractedly. "Stay here." she ordered before disappearing from the room.

Harry let out a frustrated breath. This was going to be a long and very painful talk. He could just tell.

xxx

Harry sat with his eyes diverted away from the two angry adults. He didn't know what he could say that would make things better so he just kept quiet and let them do all the talking.

James and Lily were beyond angry. They were distraught after learning about the addiction. Harry was strong, they knew that. There was a chance that Harry could get rid of this addiction as he was only in the first Phase. But Harry had been through a lot already in his life. This wasn't something he should have to deal with as well. It was a very painful thing to go through. The withdrawals itself could make you very ill. Subconsciously they blamed themselves for Harry's condition. They knew he was taking the potion to sleep. If they had reacted earlier maybe Harry wouldn't be in this situation. However, as was human nature, they couldn't separate the anger they felt at themselves with the anger they felt towards Harry. He, above everyone else, should have known better.

James and Lily sat down, trying very hard to control their emotions.

"Are you going to at least try and explain your actions?" James asked, biting back the anger he felt.

Harry didn't look at them. He kept his head down, holding his tongue. It would do no good to fight with them. This was his fault. Even though he had tried to be so careful he had still somehow managed to get himself addicted.

"Harry?"

Harry sighed and looked up to meet his mother's gaze. The emotionless mask drifted into place without him consciously aware.

"What?" he asked.

"Are you going to tell us how this happened? What compelled you to keep taking that potion and not come to any of us for help?" Lily asked again.

Harry rubbed at his head. His headache had come back with a vengeance.

"What do you want me to say?" Harry asked, looking at them blankly.

"Drop the attitude, Harry!" James snapped, unable to hold back the anger any longer.

In response, Harry only looked at him before dropping his gaze.

"Dad…" he started.

But James wasn't ready to listen to him. He stood up and started pacing the floor, hands shaking at his sides.

"I can't believe this! How stupid can you be, Harry? Everyone, absolutely everyone knows the dangers of overdosing! The youngest first year could tell you how dangerous addiction can be but you just went ahead and decided that normal laws don't apply to you!" James was beside himself with fury.

"James, please…" Lily started but was cut off again.

"Don't, Lily! Don't bother taking his side. There is no excuse for his behaviour!" James stopped his pacing and glared directly at Harry. "You act like you know everything about magic! You don't bother paying attention in any class and take every opportunity to show off your knowledge. Explain to me how you didn't know what overdosing could do to you!" James demanded.

Harry was surprisingly sitting quietly. His anger was boiling furiously inside him but he kept his mouth clamped shut. James had every right to be angry with him. He was right. For someone who claimed to have better knowledge than most regarding most aspects of magic, Harry had really messed up.

"I still don't know how it happened." Harry said after a few moments.

"How it happened!?!" James erupted again. "For Merlin's sake, Harry! You took the potion nearly every night! Didn't that strike you as excessive?" he asked.

Harry glared up at James, desperately trying to control his temper.

"I didn't take it every night! I only took it when I needed it. And if I did need to take it for a few nights at a time I always gave myself two weeks break!" Harry shouted back.

"Stop it, Harry! Stop lying! You have to admit what you did. You did take the potion every night. That explains the addiction!" James yelled at him.

Harry glared at him.

"If you've already decided what I did or not do then I don't really need to be here. I really appreciate your support at a time like this but I think I'll just leave now!" Harry got up to head for the door but Lily grabbed his arm before he could leave.

"Harry, please sit down." she said. Harry would have left but the pleading look in his mother's eyes made him sit down.

Lily turned to face James.

"If you're going to act like this you can leave!" she told him heatedly.

James stared at her but something in her eyes made him calm down and sank into the nearest chair, holding his head.

Lily sat next to Harry, emerald eyes fixed at her son's tired looking face.

"Harry, please. Be honest with us. What's done is done. There's no point denying it now." She tried.

Harry shook his head in response.

"I'm not lying. I didn't take the potion every night." he argued back. Lily decided not to fight this point. It wouldn't change anything.

"Okay, fine. I believe you." she said tiredly even though it was clear from her tone that she didn't. "I want you to understand that no matter what happens, you can't take the potion again. Understand?"

Finally Harry snapped.

"Okay! God, I get it! You don't have to keep drumming that into my head. I'm not a bloody kid!" he yelled.

"Well, you're certainly not an adult! You don't act like one!" James snapped.

"James, please…" Lily tried but was cut off.

"I wasn't talking to you!" Harry spat, his temper well and truly out of control now.

"I thought I told you to drop the attitude! You're in no position to act like this. You haven't even acknowledged the fact that you made a mistake! A mistake that you could very well pay for with your life!" James was on his feet by now, glaring at Harry.

"What the hell do you want me to say? I messed up! I'm only human and I made a mistake! I'm not denying it!" Harry spat back, on his feet now as well.

"A mistake? You seriously regard this as a mistake? A mistake is done unknowingly. You knew what an overdose would do and yet you failed to stay away from the potion or come to us for help!" James said.

"I don't need your help!" Harry hissed through clenched teeth.

Lily cut across James and spoke to Harry.

"Yes you do! This is a clear example that you can't deal with everything on your own. I know you weren't taking the potion because of the taste. You were taking it because you couldn't sleep! Because you were suffering from nightmares and I can tell that you are still suffering!"

Harry opened his mouth to argue but nothing came out. He couldn't disagree with her.

"You have to let us in, Harry. You have to let us help you." Lily forced the words out gently, fighting the tears to stay at bay.

Harry shook his head, looking away from her. He couldn't talk about Voldemort. He couldn't explain all the complicated feelings he still had. He couldn't understand them himself so how could he possibly make someone else understand.

James saw Harry shake his head and lost his temper completely.

"You can disagree all you want! You're not in control anymore. We are. If you're going to put your health at risk then we'll have to step in and take control." James told him angrily.

Harry looked at his dad incredulously.

"Take control?" he asked, his emerald eyes flaring up at once at the words.

Suddenly Harry tore his way across the room.

"Harry! Harry stop!" James yelled as Harry ripped the door open and rushed out. James and Lily ran after Harry.

"Where are you going?" Lily called after him.

Harry stopped in his tracks and looked over at her. His eyes were swimming with anger and hurt.

"I can't deal with all this right now. I've had enough!"

With that said, Harry disapparated from Hogwarts, leaving his shell shocked parents standing alone in the corridor.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Please review! Cheers!!


	20. Falling apart

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks for the reviews. Here's the next chappie, Enjoy!!

**Chapter Twenty**

Dumbledore tried to calm down the two panicked adults before him. They were both out of their minds with worry. James wasn't even pacing the length of the room but just standing rooted to the spot near the door. That just showed how worried he was. Lily was also standing next to him, eyes red and puffy from crying.

"Both of you sit down. You have to calm down." Dumbledore watched as the two parents sat down but their faces were still tight with distress.

Dumbledore could understand why. Not only had Harry walked out on them, yet again, he also showed them something that could potentially land Harry in very serious trouble.

Dumbledore had his suspicions that Harry could manipulate the powerful wards surrounding Hogwarts, ever since Harry had flooed to attend Bella's funeral. Dumbledore didn't want to say anything about it or look into it more thoroughly. As inquisitive as he was about this remarkable power, Dumbledore didn't want to draw any unwanted attention towards Harry's powers. Especially after the so-called Dark Prince started attacking. One of the things saving Harry from the blame was the fact that at the times of these attacks, Harry was at Hogwarts. Everyone knew and believed that no one could apparate whilst inside Hogwarts. If the truth about Harry's abilities came out…well, it was safe to assume it would wreak havoc and Harry would find himself in the Ministry's custody in no time.

Dumbledore explained this very thing to James and Lily. He knew the parents wouldn't tell anyone but he had to enforce the seriousness of the issue.

"Hero or no hero, the Ministry would pin the Dark Prince attacks on Harry in a heartbeat. I am regretful to say that ever since the Valentine's Day attack, Fudge is even more fearful of Harry than before. Fear can only lead to him do one thing if the blame falls on Harry. He'll happily lock him away if he thinks that will keep him and others safe."

Both James and Lily held their breaths at that news. James knew that Fudge was never really on Harry's side in the first place. He was only staying away from Harry because of two things. First was fear and the second was Dumbledore.

"But, Dumbledore, I don't understand how he can manipulate the wards in the first place. I thought that was impossible." James asked, trying to distract his mind from the more pressing issues like Harry's whereabouts.

Dumbledore let out a sigh before answering.

"It's hard to explain. I told you once that Harry was the heir to two ancestral lines. Gryffindor and Slytherin." James and Lily couldn't help flinch at the mention of the second one. "I told you that once Harry came of age his powers would be legendary. I think this is a prime example of his powers."

James opened his mouth to ask another question but then shut it again. He couldn't think clearly right now. He wanted to ask Dumbledore's help, anyone's help in finding Harry, in dealing with Harry and his addiction. But James knew that Dumbledore couldn't help him. He would have to try and figure this out between Lily and himself.

"Don't tell anyone that Harry is away. I'll tell the Professors he's ill and needs to be looked after for a few days. Hopefully Harry will come back in time and no one will have to know he was away." Dumbledore was saying.

"What do we tell Damien and his friends?" Lily asked looking at the Headmaster as if he were mad.

"Tell them anything they will believe. If they find out that Harry's missing the news will spread. The Ministry will get suspicious as to why he left and where he went. Since we don't know when Harry will be back, we can't take any risks." Dumbledore explained.

James and Lily knew it was futile to hide the truth from Damien. James agreed with Dumbledore though. He didn't want Damien to know Harry had left. The fourteen year old depended on his brother too much. There was no saying how Damien would react.

James wished for the hundredth time he had not said those awful words to Harry. Why did he have to lose his temper with him? If he had kept his temper in check, they wouldn't be in this mess.

As soon as James and Lily left the Headmaster's office, James headed to Potter Manor. A faint hope that Harry may have gone to the Manor to cool off. He came back after an hour, shaking his head sadly at Lily. Harry wasn't there. Where could he be?

He prayed that Harry came back quickly. He couldn't deal his son's disappearance for much longer.

xxx

Remus was startled when there was a knock on his door. He grabbed his wand from the table and headed towards his front door. He lived alone in the small cottage and any visitors he had usually came by the floo. He didn't know any muggles that would come knocking at his door.

Remus opened the door cautiously and was more than surprised to see Harry standing at his door.

"Harry?"

Remus looked at the drained looking boy and found his heart speed up. What had happened? Why was Harry here?

"Can I come in?" Harry asked, his voice tired and defeated.

"Sure, Harry." he moved to let Harry come inside.

Harry walked inside and immediately collapsed onto the sofa, the pain in his head escalating so much it made him feel sick. Remus was at his side instantly.

"What is it, Harry? What's wrong?" he asked in concern.

"It's just a headache." Harry said willing himself not to throw up.

Remus went to his potion cabinet and pulled out a vial of pain relief. He handed it to Harry who drank it instantly.

Remus sat down opposite Harry and waited for him to explain why he was away from Hogwarts and what was wrong. After a few minutes of silence he realised that Harry was not going to explain anything.

"Have you had lunch yet?" he asked the raven haired boy.

Harry looked up at him, his bloodshot eyes focusing on the werewolf.

"No" he answered.

Remus got up, a smile on his face.

"I'll just whip something up. It's been a while since I've had someone over. Just give me a few minutes."

Harry managed a weak smile as Remus disappeared into the next room, probably the kitchen. Harry leaned back and rested his head, closing his eyes and savouring the first few moments of relief from his headache. He jumped slightly as his stomach growled loudly as the scent of food wafted over to him. He realised that he was in fact very, very hungry.

xxx

"So where did he go?" Damien asked again.

Lily felt her patience slip away at the constant questioning.

"Damien, I told you. He's with you dad. They were talking about something to do with the new Auror training and you dad wanted to show Harry the new defence material. They went to Diagon alley. They'll be back soon." Lily hoped Harry would come back soon. He had never left for more than a few hours. Hopefully he would be back by dinner time.

Damien looked at his mum with a sceptical look.

"Why didn't they take me with them?" he asked

"I don't know, sweetheart. Maybe they thought you wouldn't be interested." Lily said absentmindedly.

Damien looked at his mum with surprise.

"That makes no sense! Why wouldn't I be interested?"

"Damien, please. I don't know! Please just go." Lily said trying hard not to break down.

Damien immediately knew something was wrong.

"Mum? What's wrong? Why are you upset? What happened?" he asked at once but Lily shook her head and pushed back her tears.

"Nothing's wrong. I'm just really tired and I have a headache." She wasn't lying. The tension headache she had was killing her.

Damien knew something was wrong. He stayed with his mum trying to get her to open up but she refused. Finally, he left, casting a wary glance over at his mum's distressed looking figure.

xxx

The food was great but Harry found he could only manage to eat a small amount. He was hungry but a few mouthfuls were all he needed to feel full. Remus didn't comment but continued with the small talk as he finished his meal. Harry was quiet and didn't interrupt while Remus carried the conversation.

It was only when Remus had run out of things to talk about that Harry spoke.

"Aren't you going to ask me why I'm here?"

Remus studied the boy's sullen eyes before speaking.

"I figured you would tell me when you wanted to." He answered. "I may not be your Godfather, but I don't see any difference between you and Damien. You would always be welcome here, no explanation is necessary."

Maybe that was all Harry needed to hear. That he wasn't any different to his younger carefree brother. That he was going to be treated like family, true family. No explanations, no reasoning. The way he used to be with his father. Maybe it was this that made Harry open his heart and pour out everything that had happened to him the last few months.

He told Remus everything. He told him about the sleepless nights, the Dreamless sleep potion, the addiction, how his parents reacted and he finally he told him what James had said to drive him away.

"…take control. That's what he said to me! After everything I went through. Dad turns around to me and says he'll take control of me!" Harry finished angrily.

Remus had stayed silent throughout all of this. He wanted Harry to get everything off his chest. He noticed straight away that although Harry mentioned he couldn't sleep because of nightmares, he didn't explain what those nightmares were. He spoke about everything else in detail except for what was keeping him up at nights.

At hearing what his best friend had stupidly said, Remus felt a growing compassion for Harry and an equally growing annoyance at James. He should really think about what he was saying.

"I'm sure he didn't mean it like that, Harry. James would never want to control you." Remus said after Harry had finished.

Harry cocked up an eyebrow at him.

"How did he mean it then? To me there is only one understanding of the word control!" he said angrily.

Remus sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"James is an idiot. A royal idiot at times but he's not going to control you. He probably meant he was going to make sure you got better from your addiction. He was referring to controlling your health issue not your actions."

Harry didn't respond. Deep down he knew that as well. He knew James wasn't like Dumbledore or like Voldemort. Both of them wanted to control him. Voldemort had been controlling him all his life. James wouldn't do that.

"I know, but at the time he said it, it was like an explosion went off inside of me. I couldn't believe he would say that to me. Use those actual words! All my life I was controlled. Everything I did, whether I was aware of it or not, was controlled by Voldemort! That was what I was to him! Just a soldier to control! A pawn in his game! It's what bothers me to this day that I couldn't see I was being used! I didn't think that my dad would say something so insulting to me." Harry's voice was choked with emotions. He was angry, annoyed, upset and hurt all at the same time.

Remus talked to Harry for a few hours, calming him down and explaining that James truly didn't mean anything by what he said. It was just an unfortunate use of words.

"Do you want to go back? I'll come with you if you want." Remus asked after Harry had calmed down.

Harry shook his head tiredly.

"Not yet. Maybe in the morning. I don't know yet. I'm really angry with him. I don't know if I'll be able to stop myself from cursing him if I see him." He said, his face screwed up in annoyance.

Remus smiled at Harry's expression.

"No, I don't think that would be a good start to patch things up." he joked.

Harry laughed as well but then suddenly realised what he had said. He looked horror stricken for a moment. He looked at Remus whose smile slipped of his face at seeing Harry's expression

"I shouldn't have said that. That was dumb of me. I shouldn't have said that." Harry bit his bottom lip and squeezed his eyes shut, like he was trying to keep a memory from resurfacing.

"Harry, what's wrong? You were only joking." Remus asked, not catching on why Harry got upset at his own statement.

Harry looked at Remus, a haunted look in his eyes.

"I've not forgotten all I did to him last year. I…I nearly…killed him." he whispered.

Remus suddenly felt very foolish. He should have remembered that. He got up and walked over to the floo.

"I better go and tell your dad you're safe. He'll be searching everywhere for you."

Harry nodded his head before pulling his robes tightly around himself. He was suddenly feeling very cold. 'Damn withdrawals!' he muttered to himself as his body began aching. He watched as Remus walked into the green flames, calling out the name of a pub. 'It's probably in Hogsmeade' Harry thought as his eyes slipped shut of their own accord.

xxx

When Remus finally arrived at Hogwarts, it was starting to get dark. Remus hurried inside and headed straight for James' room. He went inside to find James in an argument with Damien.

"Have you not had enough fighting with one son today that you have to start with the other one too?" he commented as he walked into the room.

The three occupants swirled around to face him.

"Uncle Moony!" Damien came running towards him. "Dad won't tell me where Harry is! Mum said they both went to Diagon alley but they obviously didn't! They won't tell me what happened!" he said, close to tears at this point.

Remus gave both James and Lily a stern look before turning his eyes to the dark haired boy before him.

"Harry's fine. He's with me, actually."

James and Lily both looked like they could collapse with relief.

"Why is he with you?" Damien asked a note of concern in his voice. Damien knew that Harry would only go to Remus' if there was a problem or a good reason.

Remus looked at James fixedly.

"I think your dad can explain that to you."

James looked taken aback by that statement and stared at his friend. Remus turned to Damien again.

"I need to speak to your parents. I'm sure they'll explain what happened after I leave."

Damien didn't want to leave but he knew that Remus wouldn't talk with him in the room so he begrudgingly left, promising his parents he would be back within the hour to find out the truth.

As soon as he left, Remus turned on James. He told him how Harry had appeared at his front door. He relayed everything Harry had told him. He berated James for his treatment of Harry, especially after learning about his health. The words James had spoken to Harry at the end were just appalling.

"I didn't mean it like that! I swear to God! I can't believe Harry thought I meant I was going to…oh, this is insane! Moony, you know I would never treat Harry like…like…he did!" James exclaimed.

"It doesn't matter what I know. The point is Harry doesn't know. James, you have to admit that Harry doesn't know you. He's still getting to know you and what you are or are not capable of is unknown to him." Remus explained.

Lily had sat down, head held in her hands.

"Is he okay?" she asked gently.

Remus looked over at her. His eyes softening as they took in her shaking form.

"He's fine. He's just got himself worked up. Once he's calm he'll come back." He said gently.

"What do you mean? Harry has to come back right now." James said, heading straight for the door. "I have to talk to him. I have to explain what I meant. I still have to speak to him regarding his addiction. This is serious and I need to talk to him about it." James explained as he got ready to leave with Remus.

"James, you can't…" Remus started but was cut off.

"Moony, I'm coming with you. If Harry is upset with me, I need to apologise. I need him back here. I can't tell you how strange it is to be away from him now." James said.

Remus backed down at that.

"Alright. But no arguing! Both of you are too similar. Your similar personalities mean that neither of you back down when in an argument. But you're the father so keep a tight grip on your temper." Remus said sternly.

James nodded his head in agreement. Remus was the only one who James would listen to seriously.

Both men left while Lily was left to deal with Damien and his questions.

xxx

Harry groggily opened his eyes. The unfamiliar surroundings confused him before he remembered that he was with Remus. He struggled to sit up but found he couldn't really move. His body felt heavy and sore. '_Strange_' he thought to himself. His mind was fogged up and he wasn't quite fully awake yet. He rested his head back down and took a few deep breaths in an attempt to wake himself up. He heard the sound of footsteps and he forced his eyes to open. He saw his dad standing over him, looking at him.

"Dad?" he asked groggily.

James moved closer to Harry and knelt down so that he was only a few inches away. His eyes scanned Harry's face with such intensity that it made Harry recoil.

"Dad, why are you looking at me like that?" Harry asked in his scratchy voice.

James didn't answer. He straightened up and pulled something out of his robes. Harry's eyes widened as he saw James pull out his wand. A whispered incantation and the tip of the wand started glowing red before a small flame leapt out from it.

Harry tried to get up and realised with a horrid jolt that he was tied down. There were bonds across his wrists and ankles, effectively pinning him to the sofa.

"W-what's going on?" he asked panicked, pulling at the bonds in an effort to get free. "Dad! What are you doing?" he shouted, eyeing the wand with the flickering flame.

"Something I should have done long ago." James replied in a cold tone.

Harry started pulling at the bonds, trying desperately to get free. He didn't understand what was happening. Why was his dad acting like this?

"I should have taken control long ago. I was foolish to let you think you could do as you please." James continued making Harry's heart leap in his chest.

"Dad, please. Stop it!" Harry yelled, feeling awfully weak. Maybe his dad was only freaking him out as a way to punish him for walking out.

James moved closer, holding the wand threateningly close to Harry's restrained hand.

"You don't like being burned, do you, Harry?" he asked cruelly.

Harry's heart leapt at the words. How could his dad say something like that? How could he threaten him like that? This wasn't remotely funny.

"Let me go!" Harry yelled, anger and fear simultaneously pulsing through him.

James' hand connected with Harry's cheek, making Harry's head whip to the side. Harry looked at James in pained shock. He had hit him! His cheek burned from the blow. Suddenly James had grabbed Harry by the hair and brutally pulled his head back, while glaring at him. Harry was so shocked he couldn't even gasp in pain.

"I've had enough of you!" James snapped, tightening his grip in Harry's hair. "You've forgotten how to speak to your elders! Don't worry, I'll teach you again."

He moved his lit wand closer to Harry's hand and Harry let out a pained gasp as he felt the intensifying heat. The flame was dangerously close to his hand but wasn't touching the skin yet.

"Dad, please don't!" Harry whimpered, the words leaving him painfully.

James smirked at Harry, a smirk that Harry had never seen on his face before.

"Beg for mercy, Harry!" he said cruelly.

Harry shut his eyes in fear. Those were the words Harry had grown up with. In his all 'Potter' memories he remembered, his dad telling him to ask for mercy, to beg for it. He was usually punished regardless of whether he begged or not.

This was the worst thing his dad could say to him. '_But wait_' a voice in his head said. '_That wasn't your dad that used to hurt you, that was Voldemort. Your dad doesn't know what happened to you._' Harry's eyes snapped open. This wasn't his dad. This wasn't James. He could never do something like this to him. And that was when he saw it. He saw James' hazel eyes growing fiercer. The hazel brown colour changed and became red, blood red.

'I'm dreaming!' Harry realised with a jolt. This wasn't happening. It was a dream. He felt the heat near his hand diminish and he found he could move again. He stared up at the face that still resembled James Potter but had Voldemorts ruby coloured eyes.

"Well done, Mr Potter!" Voldemort hissed at him as Harry felt himself being pulled violently away from the dream.

Harry woke up with a strangled yell and at once tried to sit up. The blanket that Remus had draped over him when he found him asleep had become tangled around him when he was having the nightmare. It was restricting him, making it impossible to get up.

"Harry!"

Harry looked up, eyes blurred by tears he wasn't aware of shedding. He saw the blurry outline of his dad and his heart leapt into his mouth. His horrifying dream still fresh in his mind made Harry recoil away from James' helping hands. James moved away, hurt by Harry's reaction. Harry managed to untangle himself from the blanket and quickly threw it away from himself. His breathing was erratic and his hair was sticking to his head from cold sweat. He hesitantly looked at James but found he couldn't look at him and not think about the recent dream, so he looked away.

The memory of the nightmare made bile rise in his throat. Without saying a word to the worried father, Harry bolted from the room heading to the bathroom. He made it just in time and threw up the food he had eaten earlier with Remus. He was shaking all over. His head pounding making him feel sicker.

"Harry?" James' voice called to him from behind the closed door.

"Go away!" Harry didn't mean to say it harshly but his scratchy throat made the request sound more like an instruction.

"Harry, I just want to see if you're okay!" James pleaded outside. Worry lacing his words.

"Just go, just go from here!" Harry said again, holding his head, willing the images of the horrid nightmare to go away. He couldn't face James just now. He just couldn't.

James turned from the door. His fingers itching to pull open the door and see for himself if his son was okay. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Remus.

"Maybe you should go. He's obviously not up to seeing you." Remus said sadly. He had thought that Harry would talk to James. Especially after how guilty Harry was feeling about how he had treated James last year.

James nodded his head miserably and left, not wanting to break down in front of his friend. He couldn't deal with Harry running away from him. He wanted to be close to Harry. Like the way he was with Damien. He walked slowly back to Hogwarts, wondering if Harry would ever have the close relationship with him that he craved so badly.

xxx

Damien hardly touched his food at breakfast. His mum had told him everything last night, after Remus had left. She told him about Harry's addiction to the sleeping potion, the argument between them and Harry's abrupt departure. Damien had to keep repeating the mantra 'he'll come back, he'll come back' over and over again in his head. It was the only thing keeping him sane right now. He had to tell the others about Harry as well, as Ginny was going berserk at Harry's disappearance. All four had sat silently after learning of Harry's addiction. Ron had looked a bit green.

"Don't worry, Damy. I'll look up everything there is on addiction and recovery. Harry will be fine." she had said to cheer him up.

At the moment, all four were sitting at the Gryffindor table. The students kept on questioning Harry's absence. The four kept on repeating that Harry was ill and was in the hospital wing. Poppy had even put up a curtained section, going along with the illusion that Harry was there.

Damien looked up to the staff table to see his mum and dad looking as miserable as they did last year. His dad had clearly not slept last night. His red and puffy looking eyes showed how upset he was. Damien had gone to see him this morning before breakfast. He hadn't seen him last night and had actually gone there to yell at him for driving Harry away. However, at seeing his dad so miserable, Damien decided not to say anything.

James had just flooed to speak to Remus. He wanted to know if Harry would be coming back today. Remus had told him he didn't think so. Harry was really, really upset over something. After James had left last night, Harry had eventually come out of the bathroom. He looked really ill. He told Remus he was going outside, he needed to clear his head. He hadn't come back until six in the morning. He wouldn't say where he went but had looked really exhausted.

James sat, deep in thought, wondering where Harry might have gone. Just as he reached for the jug of milk, a screeching sound filled the air. He looked up to see the owls flying in to deliver the morning mail.

Somehow he knew what had happened even before the newspaper hit the table. He had that terrible sense of foreboding. The horrified gasps that echoed around the hall as the newspaper was read confirmed James' fears.

The Dark Prince had attacked yet again, and this time he had killed one hundred and seventy people, most of them were muggleborns.

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Please let me know what you think. Cheers!


	21. Suspicions

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks to all those who reviewed. You all are the best!! Enjoy!

**Chapter Twenty One**

The door slammed hard against the wall as James rushed into his living quarter. He swiped the jar of floo powder from the fireplace and threw in a handful, yelling out Remus' address. James stuck his head into the green fire and waited for the swirling to stop. His heart thumping madly in his chest. He needed to see Harry. He needed him here right now. If anyone noticed Harry's absence they would become suspicious and the blame for last nights attack might fall on him.

James felt sick as he thought about all the victims. One hundred and seventy people! There were women and children amongst them as well. He knew it wasn't Harry. There was no way it was him. He could never do something as horrendous as that. '_But Harry was missing last night from Remus' house and he didn't come back until six in the morning_' a voice echoed in his mind. James pushed all the doubts from his mind rather forcefully. Harry did not do this! He _couldn't_ have.

James felt the swirling come to a standstill and he opened his eyes to find the empty living room.

"Remus!" he yelled. "Remus! Remus! Harry!"

There was no answer. Feeling as though his heart was about to rip out of his chest, James yelled for Remus again. He called out to both his friend and his son many times, but it was clear that no one was home. James pulled himself from the fireplace with a growl. Where the hell was Remus? He was home only a few minutes ago. And where was Harry?

'_He probably heard you and didn't want to speak to you_' the voice echoed in his mind again. James shook his head to clear away the voice. Now wasn't the time to think things like that. Harry was in trouble. He needed to come back to the safety of Hogwarts before anyone found out he was missing.

xxx

James tried throughout the day to contact Remus. After every class he rushed to his quarters and tried to floo call him. But no one was responding. 'Surely Remus saw the paper this morning! He should know better than to keep Harry away at a time like this!' he thought angrily.

He tried his best not to let his aggravation show while teaching his classes but it was in vain. The students could tell right away that their Professor was worked up about something. Add that to the very sudden and mysterious disappearance of Harry Potter and the end result was that by the evening everyone was convinced that last nights attack had something to do with Harry. A few students even went to the hospital wing to see if Harry was there or not. Madame Pomfrey had to chase them away. That only conformed that Harry was in fact not there.

As soon as the last class of the day finished, James wasted no time. He raced up to see Dumbledore.

"You have to disable the floo wards. I haven't received any word from Remus. I'm going to go over and see him for my self. I'll bring Harry back with me!" he explained.

Dumbledore agreed and in the next few moments, James was standing in Remus' living room.

"Remus! Harry!" James yelled as he crossed the room. He looked around for any sign of the two but it was clear that the cottage was empty.

'Where can they be?' James thought to himself, panicking over their disappearance. Remus was here in the morning. He had spoken to him. Where did the two go and why were they not back yet?

James waited nervously for them. He noticed his hands were shaking and had to take a few deep breaths to calm himself down. His mind was coming up with all sorts of horrible scenarios of what could have happened to his son and best friend. He shook his head 'they're probably at the pub!' he thought to himself in order to clam down.

After waiting for nearly an hour, James gave up. He was tired and drained from worrying so much today. He grabbed the quill lying on the table and looked around for a spare piece of parchment. He impatiently transfigured an old magazine into blank parchment and quickly wrote a message on it, addressing it to Remus. He didn't know if Harry would read anything from him yet.

He didn't write anything in too much detail. He told Remus about the attack and the large number of casualties. He asked Remus to bring Harry back to Hogwarts as soon as it was possible. Signing it, James moved away. He left the note in the middle of the cleared table, hoping it would attract the werewolf's attention right away.

James flooed back to Hogwarts and feeling exhausted with the day's events, headed for Lily's quarter. He really hoped that by the time he woke up tomorrow, Harry would be back at Hogwarts.

xxx

The first thing James did when he woke up was to race to the Gryffindor dorm in search for Harry. He had to bite back the groan as he saw that Harry was still not back yet. He met Damien in the common room on his way back. His eyes met the worried eyes of his youngest son and James felt his heart skip a few beats. Damien looked just as awful as he felt himself. He gave him the most comforting smile he could. He didn't want to openly talk about Harry. It would be too suspicious. He left the common room and headed straight for his quarter. He had to fire call Remus. Surely, they would be back by now.

As soon as he walked into his room he found Lily waiting anxiously for him.

"Is he here?" she asked at once.

James shook his head. Lily dejectedly curled up in her seat. Her green eyes showing how upset she was.

"I'm just going to floo call Remus. He should be home."

James turned towards the fireplace. He had just thrown in a handful of floo powder when there was a hurried knock on his door. James waited until Lily opened the door, his body blocking the green flames. He was surprised to see Tonks rushing inside looking panicked.

"Tonks? What are you…?" James was cut off by the purple haired Auror.

"I don't have much time. Fudge might realise I'm gone!" she said as she shut the door firmly behind her and cast the silencing charm so that no one could eavesdrop.

"Fudge? Why are you worried about him?" Lily asked.

"He's here, at Hogwarts!" she hurriedly told them.

"Who?" James asked.

"The Minister! Fudge is here at Hogwarts this very moment!" Tonks exclaimed.

"What!?!" both James and Lily shouted.

"Yes, he's here with a bunch of Aurors." Tonks explained quickly, casting a wary glace at the door.

"Why is he here?" James asked, feeling the unsettling sense of foreboding intensify.

"Where's Harry?" she whispered, even though the door had Silencio cast on it.

James felt his heart speed up.

"What do you mean? He's here of course, where else would he be?" he answered, masking his nervousness.

"Thank Merlin!" Tonks said visibly relieved.

"What's going on?" Lily asked her eyes fixed on the Auror.

"The Ministry got an anonymous call this morning, claiming that Harry was missing from Hogwarts. It claimed that Harry's been missing since the morning before the attack. Fudge ordered us to accompany him. He's here under the pretence of carrying out an unanticipated school inspection. What he actually wanted was to get proof that Harry really was missing."

James felt his legs go weak. This was what he had feared. Since the whole Daywalkers attack on Valentines Day, he knew that the next Dark Prince attack was going to be pinned on Harry. It was just something Fudge was likely to do after witnessing the Dark Arts Harry was capable of.

"He thinks Harry is behind the attacks?" Lily asked a fierce look in her eyes.

"Of course he does! He's always been afraid of Harry. He wanted to get Harry since the very first attack. The only thing stopping him was what the wizarding world would say about the arrest of their 'saviour'. Harry being at Hogwarts at the time of the attacks always saved him as well. However, if he found that Harry really was missing since the day of the attack he would have had all the proof he needed to arrest him." She told them.

Lily looked furious but knew that Tonks was right. Harry had never tried to be on friendly terms with the Ministry. Why would they give him the benefit of the doubt?

"Tonks, you better go!" James told her.

Tonks nodded her head and turned to leave.

"Try and get Harry to see the Minister. The sooner he learns Harry is here, the sooner he'll leave." she said before opening the door and exiting.

As soon as she left James collapsed next to the green flames. He shakily said Remus' address and waited for his head to stop spinning.

"REMUS! HARRY!" James shouted as loud as he could.

There was no answer.

"No, no, no! You have to be home!" he muttered in panic.

James continued shouting for Remus and Harry but no one answered his desperate pleas. Dejectedly, James pulled himself out from the flames and sat back on his knees, his breath coming in great gasps. 'What am I going to do? How do I get Harry here? What should I do about the Minister?' his head was spinning with panic.

"James, we have to go." Lily said while helping him to his feet. "We have to go to breakfast and act like everything is normal." She said in a shaky voice.

"What about Harry?" James asked.

"I don't know. There's nothing we can do right now. The only thing we can do is make everything seem normal. Fudge can't get suspicious." She answered, biting her lip in worry.

James shook his head. Fudge was already suspicious. If he didn't see Harry here, at Hogwarts, with his own eyes, he would assume Harry really is responsible for the Dark Prince attacks.

Lily was right though. They had to act as normal as possible. If only to buy themselves more time to find Harry.

Feeling like his legs were made of jelly, James and Lily headed out to the Great Hall to have breakfast with the rest of Hogwarts and the Minister.

xxx

Damien knew it was a bad sign that the Ministry had shown up at Hogwarts. He watched in numb shock as the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, walked into the Great Hall along with his Aurors and headed to the staff table to speak to Dumbledore.

"What are they doing here?" Ron asked a definite panic in his voice.

"Its obvious." Hermione hissed at him.

"It couldn't be about…about him missing. How did they find out?" Ginny whispered. She was referring to the Ministry finding out about Harry's disappearance.

"Don't know." Hermione shook her head, her brown eyes fixed on the Minister as he exchanged pleasantries with the Headmaster.

Damien watched as both his parents walked into the hall. They looked calm and almost oblivious to the fact that the Minister was seated at the staff table surrounded by Aurors.

As soon as breakfast was finished, Dumbledore stood up and the Great Hall quietened down to listen to him.

"I am sure most of you are wondering why our Minister for Magic, Mr Cornelius Fudge, is here at Hogwarts. The Minister has paid us a visit to carry out an inspection. He wants to make sure that all our classes are running accordingly to schedule. Please allow him and his Aurors to observe you in your classes. Thanks you."

Dumbledore sat down after making that announcement. Although the Headmaster had said everything in a pleasant enough tone, the students caught on to the fact that this visit wasn't to their Headmaster's liking. Firstly, the Minister just happened to appear at the school gates this morning, without sending any word beforehand. Inspections were not carried out like that. Usually there was a letter sent explaining the time and length of the inspection. Secondly, and most importantly, the inspections were not carried out by the Minister himself. It was the job of the school governors to carry out inspections. This was the first time most of the students had seen Fudge in Hogwarts.

All in all, it was plain to see that something else was going on. And it didn't take many guesses to figure out that it had something to do with Harry Potter.

xxx

James held back his groan as he saw the Minister and his Aurors pile into his classroom. This was his last class before lunch and it happened to be his seventh years. James tried not to look at the Minister as he openly smirked at Harry's absence.

Ron and Hermione threw very dirty looks in his direction but like the rest of the class, ignored them for the duration of the lecture. James was nervous. Of course he was nervous. Harry still hadn't shown up and now Fudge saw that he was missing from his classes. What explanation could he give? He couldn't tell them that Harry was ill and was in the hospital wing like he had told the rest of the school. Fudge would most definitely send someone to go and check on him. Poppy couldn't throw the Aurors or the Minister out of the wing, like she had with the students. Their cover would be blown.

He didn't know how he managed to teach the class while feeling like the bottom of his stomach was about to drop out anytime. He felt his skin prickle with anxiety as he told his class to pack up as that was the end of the lecture. Both Ron and Hermione gave him encouraging smiles as they left the classroom.

James packed up his material and wanted to leave as well but he couldn't, not until Fudge left the room. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Fudge gave his Aurors instructions to leave but stayed seated himself.

As soon as the last Auror and student left, James turned to find the Minister standing, wearing a big grin on his face.

"Minister, is there something I can help you with?" James found himself asking. He kept telling himself to stay on good terms with the Minister, to keep things as pleasant as possible.

"Very good lecture, James. I liked it. You seem to be enjoying teaching." Fudge said as he walked over to him.

"Thank you" James said, keeping his hands clutched tight inside his pockets. They were shaking too much and Fudge would have noticed.

"Your students seem to like you. That always helps, if you like your teacher, you tend to do well in that subject." Fudge praised again.

James was getting apprehensive now. This couldn't be the reason why Fudge had stayed behind, to praise him for his teaching skills.

"I saw your youngest earlier on." Fudge said calmly. "Damien, is it? Well, he seemed very…jumpy to me. Nearly shot out of his skin when I spoke to him." he carried on.

James felt anger explode in the pit of his stomach. How dare he? He had no right harassing Damien!

"Minister, why were you speaking to Damien? If you have something to ask, you should address me. Not my fourteen year old son." James knew that inspection, or no inspection, the Minister or the Aurors had no authority harassing the students. They spoke to the Professors and only them.

"I didn't mean any harm by it. I was merely asking him how he was. He seemed in a rush to get away from me though. He didn't even answer me." Fudge said.

"Minister, I really have to go. My next class is due after lunch and I have to get the lecture ready." James tried to leave. All thoughts of staying civil towards this man had left him.

Fudge didn't leave though. He didn't move at all. He let his face break into a sinister sort of smile before looking at James in the eye.

"Where's Harry, James?"

James was sure Fudge could hear his heart beating loudly in his chest. He knew his face conveyed his panic but he couldn't help it. He had expected to be asked this but was still thrown by the bluntness of the question.

"I don't know what you mean." James said, the answer leaving him automatically.

"I want to know where you eldest son, Harry Potter is?" Fudge repeated.

"Where could he be? He's here at Hogwarts." James said trying to look like the question annoyed him rather than scared him.

"Really? Well that's strange since I haven't seen him all day." Fudge retorted, his eyes never leaving James' face.

"You've only been here a few hours." James said at once.

"True, but in those few hours, I didn't see him at Breakfast or in attendance of any class. What sort of student is he if he doesn't attend any classes?" Fudge asked in faked innocence.

"He's not been very well…" James started, trying to offer a feeble excuse for Harry's absence.

"Yes, I heard about that. A few students happened to mention his stay in the hospital wing for the last few days. It's strange though, because when I went there to check on Madame Pomfrey and her paperwork, I saw that there was in fact no patients there."

There was a sickly triumphant smile on Fudge's face as he stared at James' panicked expression. James didn't know what to say. What could he say? What excuse would work? His mind was only focusing on one thing right now. How much trouble Harry was in and what Fudge would do to him if he got his hands on him. Fudge had never quite gotten over how Dumbledore had saved Harry at his trial.

"Fudge, what do you want with Harry?" James asked, his heart thudding at his insides painfully.

"I just wanted to see him. I needed to ask him about a few things." Fudge answered smugly.

"Ask me about what?"

The sound of his voice made James' knees buckle. He managed to stay standing upright by sheer force of will. He looked in the direction of the voice and saw Harry standing at the door. He was dressed in his usual school robes and had his books clutched in his hands. He was looking at Fudge with a quizzical expression but James could see the deep seated hatred in his emerald orbs. James closed his eyes and let out a quiet sigh of relief at the sight of him.

Fudge had spun around at the sound of Harry's voice as well. He paled as his eyes took in the standing figure.

"What did you want to ask me?" Harry repeated as he walked into the classroom. His movement was smooth and calm but James could see the fatigue on him. He still hadn't recovered fully.

"Harry!" Fudge exclaimed, a fake smile on his face. He ignored Harry's question.

"It's really nice to see you again." he said as he extended a shaky hand to greet him.

"Wish I could say the same." Harry answered, ignoring the outstretched hand.

For someone who had looked so smug only a few seconds ago, Fudge seemed to deflate. His face had lost its colour and his trembling hands showed either how angry he was that Harry had turned up or how scared he was that Harry had seen him harassing his father.

Harry ignored him and addressed his dad.

"Professor McGonagall wanted to see you before the next class." He said.

James could only nod his head. He didn't trust his voice at the moment.

"Harry, I…I didn't see you in class today." Fudge asked. He seemed to regret it as Harry glared at him.

"I only just got out of the hospital wing this morning. I'll be attending classes later on this afternoon. But I don't seem to remember the new rules that we have to discuss our personal matters with the Minister for Magic. What's the matter, Minister? Can't find enough work to do these days? Is that why you're wasting your time checking on Hogwarts? When perhaps you could actually be doing your job and trying to deal with the aftermath of the attack yesterday."

Harry's words attacked Fudge like blows. He was staring at the raven haired boy with wide eyes. No one had quite spoken to him like that before. If James wasn't feeling so resentful towards the Minister, he would have stopped Harry from talking to him like that.

Without saying another word, the Minister turned and walked out of the room. His steps showed how eager he was to leave. Harry watched as the man literally ran from the room like a hurt little child.

"Pathetic" he muttered under his breath.

He turned around to look at his dad. They were the only ones left in the room. Suddenly the awkwardness returned and both seem to look away from each other. Harry waved his hand towards the door and cast the 'Silencio' charm on it.

"Sorry" Harry said, making James look up at him in surprise. "I didn't see your letter to Remus until a few moments ago. I apparated back as soon as I read it."

James nodded his head again, trying to calm his still frantically beating heart. He was sure he hadn't been this nervous before in his life.

"Where were you?" he asked in a hoarse voice. Harry looked at him for a minute before answering.

"Why does it matter?" he responded.

"It matters because I spent all day yesterday and this morning fire calling you and you weren't there!" James could feel his anger building again and he frantically pushed it down. He couldn't get cross with Harry again. He had just stepped back into Hogwarts.

Harry stared at James, his eyes taking in every detail about his dad. Finally he answered.

"We had gone out since yesterday morning. We never got back in until a few hours ago. Both Remus and I didn't notice your letter until just now." He explained.

"That still doesn't tell me where you both went." James commented.

Harry had to stop himself from turning around walking back out of the castle.

"Are you seriously doing this?" Harry asked irritably.

James stopped himself from answering. What was he doing? Harry had just come back and was clearly still angry about the last time they had spoken. Instead of trying to make peace, he was harassing him about his whereabouts. '_It doesn't matter where he was. He was with Remus. That should be enough for you to calm down._' his mind told him.

"Sorry, Harry." he said with a sigh. "I didn't mean to say it like that. It seems nowadays I say a lot of things I don't really mean." He said while watching Harry carefully.

Harry bristled but didn't comment. James had to clear the air with him. He hated how awkward Harry was with him.

"Harry, I'm really sorry about what I said to you. I honestly did not mean that I would control you. I meant it in another way. I was concerned about your health and everything. I'm really sorry."

Even as James was speaking he could see Harry shutting off. The expressionless mask covered his face and emotions.

"It's fine." Harry said in a toneless voice.

"Harry…"

"We should go. If we don't make an appearance at Lunch it will look suspicious." Harry left after that, not waiting to see if James was coming or not.

As soon as Harry entered the Great Hall he could feel more than see the stares on him. Every eye was on him as he smoothly walked over to his usual spot at the Gryffindor table. His friends looked at him, trying valiantly to hide their surprise and relief. Damien didn't even try to hide his emotions. His face showed the relief as it engulfed him. The sight of his brother walking in and heading towards them made his heart beat twice as hard. Harry was here! He was here at last and the Ministry couldn't pin any blame on him.

As Harry sat down he looked over to the staff table. He smirked and gave a sarcastic little wave at the Minister who immediately diverted his gaze, growing redder by the minute.

Harry didn't say a word to anyone but threw Ginny a warm smile. His eyes met hers and he could tell how worried she was about him. He gave the other three a meaningful look that meant 'don't-talk-now-I'll-explain-later'.

The rest of the students shared curious looks with one another. This had been an interesting day at Hogwarts. If only they knew how much more interesting things were going to get.

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I know it's short but I wanted to give you guys something before Deathly Hallows comes out. As you all can probably guess, there won't be any more updates until after Deathly Hallows. I can't say when I'll update because I don't know when I'll finish the book. Hopefully it will be soon.

Take care and I hope everyone enjoys the last book in the fab Harry Potter series!

Oh, and please Review this chappie!! Cheers!!


	22. The ups and downs

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks for all the reviews. You all are the best!! Enjoy!

**Chapter Twenty Two**

Harry didn't speak to anyone regarding his disappearance until late that night. The Minister and his Aurors had left quickly after Harry had come back. The five teens hung back, drinking butterbeers as usual and making small talk in the common room until they were the only ones left. As soon as Dean shuffled up the stairs, yawning loudly, Hermione and Ginny started firing questions at Harry.

"What happened?"

"Why did you leave?"

Harry didn't answer right away. He looked over at Damien and Ron, both of them were sitting quietly but had their eyes fixed on Harry's face, waiting for his answers.

Harry realised with a jolt that he had to tell them about his addiction. He could have lied to them about why he and his dad fell out but he had never lied to them. Why start now?

"I guess I should start at the beginning." He sighed.

He told them quickly about his diagnosis with Poppy and his parents' reactions. He was surprised when none of them showed any surprise at the revelation. He looked at Damien and saw the guilty expression and realised that Damien had found out beforehand and had decided to tell the others. He pushed down the anger and annoyance at his younger brother. His health was a private issue and he didn't like the idea of the four of them sitting and discussing it. He would talk to Damien in private.

"…so once I left I didn't know where to go. I would have stayed outside but – but I wasn't feeling well enough. So I went to the first place I could think of." Harry finished awkwardly.

"And that was Uncle Remus' house?" Damien asked surprised.

Harry shrugged as a response.

"Why not?"

"I thought you would go to Uncle Siri's house." Damien said absently.

"I couldn't go there." Harry said, something like bitterness lacing his words. "It's the Headquarters. If I had things my way, I would never set foot in that place again." He finished.

The other shared a quick a glance with one another. They had thought that Harry had gotten over his hate of the Order of the Phoenix. Apparently they were mistaken.

"How, how have you been?" Hermione asked hesitantly.

Harry looked at her. He knew she meant how he was coping without the sleeping potion.

"Fine." He lied. He was not fine. Without the help of the potion he couldn't sleep. He had not slept since two nights ago, when he had that nightmare of James. But Harry wasn't going to tell that to anyone. It wasn't their business.

"You haven't taken any more potions then?" Ron asked an odd look in his eyes.

Harry felt himself losing his temper again. It felt like his temper was always just at the surface these days.

"No, I haven't." Harry answered, teeth clenched around his words.

Damien saw the tell tale sign that his brother was restraining his anger. It was the same with their dad.

"I think we should go to bed now. It's been a long day." He said getting up.

The others followed pursuit giving Harry a chance to be alone with Ginny for a few minutes. When Harry quietly walked into his dorm he saw that Ron was sitting on Harry's bed, obviously waiting for him.

As soon as Harry walked over to him, Ron put up silencing charms around them so that they couldn't be heard by the other three boys in the room. Ron didn't want them to wake up.

"Harry…" he started.

"Go to sleep, Ron." Harry instructed, clearly not in the mood to talk. Ron pushed on regardless. He had to say this. The guilt was killing him.

"I just wanted to say, I'm sorry."

Harry stopped in the process of pulling out his clothes from his trunk.

"Sorry? About what?" he asked.

Ron took a deep breath.

"I saw you taking the sleeping potions and I didn't confront you about them." He said with his eyes fixed at his feet.

Harry was looking confused.

"Yes, you did. You confronted me about them a few weeks back. Don't you remember?" he asked.

Ron looked up at this.

"Yeah but, it was too late by then wasn't it? I should have said something the first time I saw you. It was my fault. I should have warned you sooner." He carried on in an apologetic tone.

Harry was by now, really annoyed. He had had a rough few days. He still wasn't feeling like his old self and the tension between him and his dad was getting to him as was the recurring nightmares of Voldemort and now an abusive James as well. Tiredly he turned to the red haired boy.

"It wasn't your fault." He said stiffly to him.

"Yeah, but I should have…" Ron started again.

"Shut up, Ron! I told you it's not your fault. Will you just drop it!" Harry said while slamming his trunk shut. It was just as well there was a silencing charm around them.

Ron looked at him in mild surprise.

"It is my fault. I'm supposed to be your friend! I watched you take the potion and I knew just by looking at you that you were suffering and I didn't do anything about it!" he was shouting now as well.

"I'm not a child, Ron. I don't need someone looking out for me. I never have! I know how to look after myself!" Harry retorted.

"Really? Well I think you just proved that you can't otherwise you would never have become an addict!" Ron said angrily before he could help it.

Harry felt like someone had hit him. The words came at him like a physical blow. He turned away from the horrified Ron and pulled his covers away, intending on getting into bed.

"Harry! I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

"Yes you did!" Harry said with his back to him. He pulled himself into bed and without looking back he wandlessly pulled his drapes around his bed, shutting out the red faced Weasley.

Ron didn't know what else to do so turned miserably to his bed and got in. Harry was trying furiously to stop himself from getting back up and beating the living daylights out of his supposed 'friend'. What an awful thing to say! An addict! That was what he thought of him now.

'I should never have come back!' Harry thought bitterly to himself. The thought kept swimming in his head the whole night.

xxx

The next morning, Harry had dressed and left the dorm before anyone else. He saw Ron walking into the Great Hall for breakfast, looking downright miserable. He tried apologising but Harry point blank ignored him. He had to, otherwise the urge to hit Ron would win.

His eyes met Draco's and he felt the desire to get up and walk over and sit at the Slytherin table. He fought against it though. It would make no difference to Harry but Draco would find it difficult to acknowledge his friendship with Harry in front of the Slytherin house. As far as they knew, Draco hated Harry as much as the rest of the Slytherins.

Feeling the desire to punch something, Harry got up and made his way to his first class.

The next few days went by like this. Harry refused to speak to Ron, or to anyone else who tried to talk for him. He didn't sleep at all at night and kept an iron grip on the burning desire to take a small sip on the potions, which were still under his bed, hidden in the trunk. Harry had thought many times of destroying them, to get rid of the temptation but he couldn't do it. It was a bizarre comfort to him to know that the potions were there. Even thought he would never be allowed to take them again.

He kept away from James as well. James had tried to get a minute alone with him but Harry always managed to walk away. He wasn't particularly eager for another ear bashing. All in all, Harry was more miserable than ever. The only thing keeping him from walking away was his brother and girlfriend. Ginny somehow managed to cheer him up. The mere sight of the petite red head would make Harry smile.

It was a Friday afternoon and Harry was dreading it. He knew that James would catch up with him on the weekend where Harry didn't have the cover of attending classes. He was currently sitting in his History of Magic class, paying no attention whatsoever on the ghost that was teaching.

He was tired, very tired. He hadn't slept in so long now. He couldn't remember getting even a few minutes sleep. He knew that he couldn't go on like this. He had initially thought that without the potion he would get so tired that he would fall into a deep sleep which would hopefully not be disturbed by nightmares. However, he found that as soon as he closed his eyes, the nightmares were just waiting to start where they last left off.

He looked around the classroom and saw many faces that were staring into space. No one was paying attention to the lecture. Harry thought about visiting Poppy after class. She was the only one he was comfortable talking to about this. He felt like she was the only one who could possible be able to help him.

He instinctively looked towards the door, wondering when he would be able to leave. All thoughts of visiting Poppy were wiped from his mind as he looked in the direction of the door. Standing at the entrance, dressed in the usual black robes, stood his father, Lord Voldemort. Harry sat up in his chair, eyes fixed in horror at the door. Lord Voldemort was staring at Harry and only Harry. His red eyes were fixed on him and there was a cruel smile on his face.

Harry looked around the classroom in panic. Everyone else was either looking at the ghost Professor or staring into space. No one was looking at the door. They were completely oblivious to the presence of the Dark Lord. Harry's eyes snapped back to the door. Voldemort smirked at him, making a shudder run down him. What was going on?

'I'm sleeping!' Harry thought to himself. That would explain it. This was the History of Magic class after all. It was so boring that even a person who was not sleep deprived for the last few weeks, would easily fall asleep.

'Wake up!' Harry pleaded to himself. 'Wake up, Harry! Please wake up!'

No matter how much Harry tired to snap out of his nightmare, it did nothing to the presence of Voldemort. Harry shakily looked back at the door and saw Voldemort still standing, looking like he was immensely enjoying the pain and fear on Harry's face.

"Harry?"

Harry jerked in his seat and looked around at Hermione's worried face. She had touched him on his shoulder and had whispered his name, looking at him with concern.

"What's wrong?" she asked in a hushed voice, as not to disrupt the lecture.

"Hermione!" Harry whispered fear clearly present in his voice. His eyes darted to the door again.

At seeing the petrified look Harry sent at the door, Hermione looked around at the empty doorway.

"What are you looking at?" she asked as she saw Harry positively tremble.

"You, you can't see him?" he asked in a shaky voice.

Hermione looked around again but could only see the empty doorway.

"Harry, there's no one there." She whispered to him, her own eyes, fixed worriedly on her friend.

Harry felt something crash inside him. No one could see Voldemort? No one except for him. Did that mean he was going crazy? Or that he was perhaps still sleeping, unable to wake up? But he couldn't be sleeping since he was talking to Hermione.

Harry couldn't help the way his hands kept on shaking. He looked away from the door and shut his eyes tightly. He kept on repeating the mantra 'go away, please go away' to himself. When he opened his eyes and looked shakily towards the door he saw that Voldemort had gone. The relief that flooded him was immense. He looked at Hermione who was staring at him with concern.

"What happened? Are you alright?" she asked again.

Harry swallowed the fear that was still bubbling inside him. He hadn't been dreaming. All this had happened for real. He had seen him while no one else could. Hermione was looking rather pale at Harry's condition.

Harry nodded his head in response to her question and then looked determinedly in front of him, trying to calm his frantically beating heart. Hermione looked away reluctantly and resumed her note taking. They didn't talk until the end of class.

As soon as Harry could he packed his books and fled the classroom. He had to see Poppy. He was losing his mind and only she could help him.

xxx

Poppy listened in silent horror as Harry told her what had happened only half an hour ago in his History of Magic class. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up at the recollection of Harry's vision. Her medical training was the only thing keeping her calm. After Harry finished, she quickly got up and fetched him a calming drought. Harry downed it in a second, his hands were shaking badly and the fear in his eyes was something she had never seen before.

"Are you certain you hadn't fallen asleep and had a nightmare? You said you haven't slept in the last few weeks. That's an awful long time, Harry." Poppy said quietly.

Harry shook his head, eyes still clouded with dread.

"No, I was awake. I told you I spoke to Hermione." He said.

"And she couldn't see…him?" Poppy asked to be certain.

Harry shook his head again.

"No, she couldn't see him."

Poppy stood up and walked over to the trembling boy. The calming drought wasn't working as well as it should.

"Harry, tell me the truth. When was the last time you had a full nights sleep?" she asked.

Harry looked at her, infuriated.

"What does that have to do with anything? I told you I wasn't asleep! It wasn't a nightmare. He was there!" Harry shouted.

"Harry, think about what you're saying. He couldn't have been here." Poppy told him, trying to hold back the shudder at the mere thought of Lord Voldemort coming back.

Harry looked away from her.

"I know he wasn't…back. I meant that…I…" Harry looked up at Poppy, holding her worried gaze. "Poppy what's happening to me?" he asked.

Poppy felt her heart squeeze at the question. What was happening to Harry? The strong and confident boy she knew was slowly withering away. In his place stood an emotionally exhausted and unwell boy.

"Nothing is happening to you, and nothing will. I won't let it." She told him with more confidence than she felt. Harry dropped his gaze.

"I see him everywhere." Harry whispered, his eyes focused on his own hands, lying in his lap.

Poppy sat still as if afraid that if she moved at all Harry might stop talking.

"I can't sleep because of him. Every time I close my eyes, he's there, waiting to torment me. And now, now I can see him when I'm awake as well. I can't take it anymore! I can't watch him die again. I can't!"

Poppy didn't know what to say to him. Any comfort she could provide would sound like nothing more than empty words.

She held him by the shoulder, forcing her voice to be steady when she spoke.

"I'm not going to lie to you Harry. I'm not going to say that I know what's happening to you because I don't. But I am going to find out. I promise I'll help you. You have to take my word for it. I'll talk to Helen. She's my friend that works for St Mungo's. She's a mind healer."

Harry wasn't listening to Poppy anymore. His mind was stuck on what he had seen and what he was going to do now. He saw him when he slept, he saw him when he was awake. How could he escape from Voldemort now?

"Harry?"

A gentle shake and Harry snapped up to look at the nurse.

"I think you should rest. You need to sleep. I assume your magic is the only thing keeping you on your feet right now. If you don't rest you're going to get unwell."

Harry threw her a half heartened glare. Did she think it was that easy?

"I'll give you a relaxant. It will help you fall asleep…" Poppy continued gently at seeing Harry's expression.

"Falling asleep isn't the problem." Harry whispered back.

Poppy felt her heart miss a beat. Pity swelled up inside her.

"Oh Harry…!"

But Harry didn't want to hear it. He got up and walked out of the door. He had hoped Poppy would help him but he realised that there wasn't anything she could do for him. There wasn't anything anyone could do.

xxx

Harry was right. James didn't waste a moment cornering him on Saturday morning. Harry had successfully avoided him since he came back a few days ago. However, the weekend was to be spent with his parents. Both Damien and he were to meet them in their living quarters and there was no avoiding it.

Harry walked solemnly to the dungeons alongside Damien. He really wanted to be alone. He couldn't shake away the dread that had claimed him since he had seen Voldemort standing before him. Thankfully he had no more visions of him but his nights were still filled with nightmares.

Dragging his feet, Harry walked into the comfortable room. He avoided looking at James but greeted his mum warmly. Damien shared a reassuring look with his dad, as if to say 'he'll be okay'.

"Okay, now that we're all here, we can leave." James said, injecting a bit too much enthusiasm into his voice.

Harry groaned. The last thing he wanted right now was to have a 'family trip'. He was fine sitting where he was.

"Where are we going?" Damien asked at once.

"That's a surprise!" James answered.

"We haven't moved again have we?" Harry asked, speaking for the first time with James since the Ministers' visit.

James looked at Harry. He tried to decipher if Harry was joking or not. It didn't look like it. His hard green stare was fixed at James, although he was taking care not to look at him in the eyes. James wondered why.

"No, we haven't moved." James answered, watching Harry carefully. "I thought we could go out for a bit. We haven't been out as a family in so long. It would be a welcome change." He added.

Harry really didn't feel up to it. He had a headache blooming just behind his eyes, probably because he hadn't rested his eyes in so long. He shook his head.

"I don't feel like it. You guys go without me." He said.

"Aw, Harry. Don't spoil it! Just come!" Damien moaned, throwing his best puppy dog eyes look at Harry.

"I really can't. I have stuff to do, work to catch up with. You guys go ahead. I honestly don't feel up to it." Harry responded.

James looked at Harry but Harry was taking care not to look at him. Lily put an arm around him, trying to comfort him. Harry stiffened in her arms.

"What's the matter, Harry?" she asked softly.

"Nothing." He said, shrugging her away. He stood up, ready to leave. "I'll catch up with you later then." He was about to leave when James blocked him. His action could have seemed threatening but he was wearing a gentle expression.

"Come along with us. I promise not to give you any heavy workload to do." He joked.

Harry tried to decline his offer again.

"I really don't feel…"

"That's why I want you to come with me." James interrupted. "You need to get out a bit." He added gently.

Harry wanted to point out that he had just had a two day break last week but decided against it. Feeling apprehensive about the coming trip, Harry gave in.

James handed over the tennis ball acting as the portkey.

"It goes off in ten seconds." He said as Damien and Lily rushed over and placed their fingers onto the ball. In ten seconds the portkey went off and Harry felt the familiar pull under his navel.

When his feet hit the ground he stumbled but caught himself from falling flat on his face. He straightened up and saw that they were in a quiet alleyway.

"Where are we?" Damien asked, picking himself up from the ground.

"It's a small muggle town." James answered.

Harry turned around to face him wearing a look of surprise.

"After the last few days I really wanted to get away from the wizarding world. I thought it would be nice to spend some time here, you know, somewhere no one knows the famous Potters." Lily explained.

Harry found himself looking at his dad. How did he know that was exactly what he wanted to do? Get away from everyone that knew him and spend a few hours away from prying eyes. He found a smile spread on his face.

"Shall we?" James asked, extending his arm towards Lily, who took his arm at once.

"What are we going to do all day?" Damien asked as the four started walking towards the street.

"Just normal stuff. Get some food, do a little shopping, maybe catch a movie, what do you think, Harry?" Lily asked.

He gave her a lopsided grin.

"Whatever, as long as I get some alcohol in me, I'm fine." Harry wouldn't admit it outright but muggle drinks were much better than wizarding drinks, or so he thought anyway.

James raised an eyebrow at him but didn't say anything.

Any reservations Harry had about coming were soon forgotten. He loved how he could walk around in the midst of people and no one spared him a single glance. Ever since his capture by the Order, Harry had found he couldn't walk out in public without someone gawking at him. At first it was at Hogwarts because he was the new boy, the mysterious Potter. Then when his true identity came out, he was barricaded inside Riddle Manor. Voldemort had been afraid to let him out, in case he was captured again. Harry cast his thoughts aside. He didn't want to think about him. After he left Riddle Manor, he was on the run. Anytime he had to spend outside in the midst of muggles was limited since someone from the wizarding world could spot him and hand him over to the Ministry. After all he did have a five thousand Galleons reward hanging over his head. Lately, he was stared at as the 'Saviour of the world'. The 'hero' who saved them all from Voldemort. It was all getting rather too much to take.

This was exactly what he needed. Some peace and quiet while hanging out with his family. He needed something like this to take his mind off the disturbing vision he saw in his History of Magic class. He soon forgot about his ill feelings with James as well and was laughing at the comments James was making about the muggle technology. They were in an electrical goods shop and James was shaking his head at the sight of a blender.

"I just don't understand how they can even figure out how to work most of these things." He whispered as a store assistant was trying to sell an elderly couple the electrical blender.

They did quite a lot of shopping and as Lily was with three males, she had to practically drag them to the clothes shop. All three whined and complained as she picked out their outfits.

"Why can't I shop by myself?" Damien complained as Lily tried to stuff the blue top into his hands

"Because you don't know what looks good on you." Lily replied.

"Question, you really think we look good in this?" Harry asked with a frown.

Lily squealed in delight as she saw her husband and two sons in matching outfits of khaki trousers and blue shirts. The three of them didn't look very happy though.

"Oh, you look adorable." She said with a bright smile.

"Lily, I don't know how to break this to you but, I'm not wearing this, ever!" James said.

Lily ignored him and ended up buying the three matching outfits.

"I'm serious! I'm not wearing that." James told Harry and Damien as they walked out of the shop.

"Well, if I do, I'm making sure neither of you two is wearing it first." Damien replied.

The rest of the day passed enjoyably. Before they headed back to Hogwarts, the four of them decided to have dinner first. They chose a quiet restaurant and sat down to enjoy food not cooked by house elves.

Just as they were half way through their meal a familiar voice called to them.

"Well I never! The Potter family here. What are the chances?"

Harry looked up to see Frank and Alice standing before them.

"Frank! Alice! Oh what a surprise." James and Lily greeted them warmly.

"What are you doing here?" James asked, surprised that two purebloods would venture out into the muggle world. He still couldn't come to the muggle world without Lily. He couldn't figure out the currency.

"We're doing the same thing as you, I guess. Eating out." Frank joked.

"No, I mean, what are you doing _here_? I didn't know you had any, err, _muggle_ friends." James whispered the word 'muggle'.

Frank's eyes met with Harry's and he gave him a funny look.

"We don't have any friends in the muggle world but John and Fiona do."

Everyone turned to look at Harry who tried really hard to keep a straight face.

"Jason and Deidre just left." Alice said, explaining why it was just the two of them left.

"It's nice to see you so soon again, Harry. It seems its either feast or famine with you. We either get to see you once in a blue moon or we see you regularly." Frank commented.

James didn't understand that. The last time they saw Harry was on Valentine's Day. That was around two months ago. He wouldn't call that soon.

"When did you see Harry recently?" he asked out of curiosity.

Harry didn't react as Frank explained.

"I just saw him a few nights ago. He came with Remus and we spent the entire day together. Didn't he tell you?"

James looked around at Harry slowly. So that was where he had gone. That was why he couldn't get a hold of him the day before the Minister's visit. Remus must have taken Harry to see Frank to cheer him up. He had said that Harry was really upset about something the night before. Remus must have figured it would be nice to hang out with Frank as 'Alex' and 'John' were quite close.

James felt pretty stupid, annoying Harry about his whereabouts. What must have Harry thought about him? He looked apologetically at Harry who, thankfully smiled back at him. It seemed that Harry had decided to forget about his argument with James.

Frank and Alice left and shortly and the Potter family left as well. Harry was feeling a lot better. He had actually enjoyed himself today, something that he had not done in so long now.

They all went back to James' living quarter and just sat around the fire, for a while they were too full and too exhausted to do anything else. Lily finally got up and busied herself with sorting out all the shopping she had done while James and Damien lazily played some chess. Harry was contented to just watch, his eyes getting heavier and heavier. Soon he had curled up on the sofa and fallen into a deep sleep. Something he had not managed to do in over three weeks.

xxx

Harry awoke as his mum gently shook his shoulder.

"Harry, time to get up, honey."

Harry stretched and sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He was surprised to see his surroundings as not those of his dorm.

"What…where am I?" he asked, looking around himself.

"In Hogwarts. Where else?" Lily laughed. "Now get up and have some breakfast."

"Breakfast?"

That was when he realised what had happened. He had slept through the night! He had slept through the entire night without having any nightmares. This was the first time he had slept without the help of the potion. He felt like he had slept for days. His headache was gone and his body didn't ache anymore. He actually felt well rested. He had never thought something insignificant as a full night's sleep would make him feel so happy.

He climbed out of the bed that Lily had transfigured from the sofa. Lily and James had seen how tired and drained Harry had looked. They didn't want to awake the sleeping teen last night and so decided to just let him sleep in their quarter. They transfigured the sofa so that Harry was comfortable.

Harry was so overwhelmed with relief that he didn't wait to consider the fact that he had just slept in his parents' quarters. All he cared about was the fact that he had a nightmare free night.

Lily saw the look of pure joy and, strange as it was, relief on Harry's face and wondered what he was thinking about. She never got a chance as Damien had rushed inside.

"Finally, you're awake! Come on if you don't want to miss breakfast. Ginny's going mad looking for you." He told his brother.

Harry promised to meet him in the Great Hall as he had to shower and change first. Damien left urging Harry to be quick as they all had a game of Quidditch planned. Before Harry left the dungeon he did something very strange. He walked over and hugged Lily. She was left speechless at the uninitiated hug. Harry had never done something like that before. As he pulled away, she could swear she heard something that sounded like 'thank you' in her ear. She watched in numbed happiness as Harry gave her a bright, genuine smile before heading out of the door.

She couldn't suppress the urge to laugh out loud. What was all that about? She decided she didn't care. She had just received the very first sign of comfort and love from her son. She knew nothing would get her down today.

Just as this thought occurred to her, James walked inside.

"James! James wait until you hear…" she trailed off as she saw Poppy walk inside behind James, followed by a blond haired woman that she didn't recognise.

"Poppy? What's going on, James?" she asked.

"Poppy said she had something to tell us." He replied. Lily could tell that James was just as surprised as her. Poppy never left the sterile confinements of the hospital wing.

"Lily, this is Helen Keats, she's a good friend of mine. She's a mind healer at St Mungo's." Poppy introduced the blond haired witch. Helen looked at Lily and inclined her head slightly in form of a greeting. She was a plump witch but with a hard face. He blond hair was pulled tightly in a bun.

Something heavy floated down Lily's stomach and settled there, filling her with a cold dread. 'A mind healer? Why did Poppy bring a mind healer to see them?' She soon found out.

Poppy explained Harry's visit to her two days ago. She quietly explained what had happened to Harry and everything he had told her. James and Lily listened in silent horror as Poppy explained Harry's vision.

"…I spoke to Helen and asked her to help me figure out what was the likely reason for Harry's vision. I thought you should know." Poppy finished awkwardly.

Right then Lily knew something was dreadfully wrong. Poppy wouldn't betray Harry's trust like this. She was too close to him to do that. If she was here ready to discuss possibilities of what may be wrong with Harry, then it had to be quite serious.

The blond haired witch cleared her throat and took over from Poppy. She was sitting quiet comfortably in her chair and had an air of authority around her that made James dislike her at once, even before she started talking.

"Mr and Mrs Potter, I have to say before I start that I have yet to speak to your son. I am only basing my diagnosis on what Poppy has told me. However, in saying that, I have been a mind healer for the last twenty years. I can usually make an accurate assumption even before speaking to the patient."

James thought she was rather pompous but then again, healers always were.

"I have looked over the facts regarding Harry's past and I must say that I'm not at all surprised at Harry's mental breakdown." She continued.

"Excuse me? Mental breakdown?" Lily asked exasperatedly.

Helen looked at Lily blankly.

"What else would you call it? Seeing a dead wizard standing before you while no one else can is termed as a mental breakdown."

James was certain now that he disliked her.

"Helen, please…" Poppy started looking apologetically at the two Potters.

Helen ignored her and carried on.

"I should start at the beginning." She turned to James. "Mr Potter, is it correct that you were advised by Healer Green from St Mungo's to get Harry some counselling?"

"Yes." James answered, narrowing his eyes at her.

"How did those sessions go?" she asked, without a hint of emotion on her face.

"Abysmal considering we didn't go to any." James answered annoyed.

"Didn't you think it was important for the health of your son's mind to attend these sessions? Especially after what he went through with You-Know-Who?"

James was speechless. What was he supposed to say? Helen continued, ignoring James' guilty expression.

"Well, since you decided that healing of the mind was not of any importance, can I at least assume that you talked to Harry yourself and discussed what had happened?"

Again, James couldn't answer. He felt like a ten year old being told off for being insensitive. That didn't sit too well with the father of two.

"Do you have a point?" he asked rudely.

"Yes, I do. The point that I am trying to make is simple. That the assumption that Harry's not had any closure since the death of You-Know-You is correct. That you, as his parents, have not made him sit and talk about it. Correct?"

"I'm sorry, but that's bordering on rude!" Lily said, finally not being able to hold back any longer. "You can't just assume that we haven't talked to Harry or make it sound like we as his parents don't care about him!"

Helen stared at Lily for a moment. She turned to look at Poppy who shifted uncomfortably. It was clear that Poppy was starting to regret bringing Helen into this.

"Mrs Potter, I am not saying anything of the sort. I am merely trying to understand the circumstances as they have arisen. As I understand it, Harry's not had anyone to talk to. Anyone he could discuss the death of You-Know-Who. You must understand that such a thing for the mind is poison. It can spread and cause all sorts of undesirable things." She stopped and watched Lily and James throw each other a furtive glance.

"I understand that Harry is now in Phase one of addiction to Dreamless Sleeping potion?" Helen asked.

James and Lily both looked at Poppy in shock. They couldn't believe she had disclosed such information to a stranger.

"Relax, Mr Potter. I'm not going to use this information other than to treat your son and make a diagnosis. The information is private but I am a healer. I am head of my department at St Mungos'. Harry's private medical files are safe with me. You see, the most important thing for me isn't the question of why he became an addict. The real question is how." Helen had everyone's attention now.

"As I told Poppy, I have my theory. Now like I said this is only an assumption. You can choose to believe me or not. That is your choice but I believe that the reason for Harry's addiction is quite obviously his nightmares. He couldn't sleep without nightmares disrupting his sleep so he started taking the potion. The fact that he became addicted so soon shows the extent and frequency of the dosage. Now, the problem isn't the potion. It's sleeping. He made a comment to Poppy about the problem not being able to fall asleep, but to be able to stay asleep. That is the real problem and that is what we have to fix."

By now James and Lily were listening to her whole heartedly.

"The only way to fix his nightmares is to get him to open up about them. If he talks about what he sees and what he suffers then we can work on him resolving those issues. It doesn't take much guessing as to who his nightmares are about. After all, he was hallucinating about the same person a few days ago."

James felt an eerie shudder ran down his spine at the thought of Voldemort. That was his worst nightmare. Voldemort coming back and taking his son away from him again.

"You see, the hallucinations can be explained very simply. He was sleep deprived at the time. Poppy thinks it's been a few weeks since he slept properly at all. Hallucinations are a common sign that the mind is in desperate need for sleep." She explained.

"Is it possible to last so long without sleep?" Lily asked, horrified at the thought of Harry being unable to sleep for weeks on end.

"It isn't for a normal muggle. They can only last for around four day, before their body starts protesting. Wizards can last longer. Harry has obviously being drawing strength from his magic. It's the only thing keeping him on his feet."

James thought back to how drained Harry had looked. He was going through so much and he never once asked for help. His heart broke at the thought of how much pain Harry was silently suffering.

"My professional advice is simple. Get Harry help. He is in desperate need. Get him help before things go too far." Helen warned.

James' heart skipped a few beats.

"What do you mean?" he asked, a bit too aggressively.

"Since Harry has clearly not had any counselling regarding the death of the person he fondly referred to as 'father' his mind may have suffered severe shock. I am aware of the death of Ms Lestrange which I can only imagine was another blow to his already delicate mind frame. All in all, it may be assumed that Harry is in what we call 'denial mode'. He hasn't discussed the deaths of two of the closest people he had in his life. It doesn't help that these two people are regarded by others as monsters. Every where he looks he sees people rejoicing their deaths. Can you imagine how difficult that would be to deal with?"

James couldn't imagine. He suddenly felt very foolish for not talking to Harry about Voldemort and Bella.

"When a person is in 'denial mode' they start to subconsciously believe that that person is still alive. That may explain why Harry saw You-Know-Who when he hallucinated as opposed to someone else. He dreams about him as well so it's safe to say that Harry's finding no break from You-Know-Who's memory."

Helen looked apprehensive about what she was going to say next, which looked out of place for her, making James and Lily nervous.

"It is my own professional opinion and Poppy disagrees with me, but I'm sure other healers would agree, that Harry is indeed behind the recent attacks."

James felt like all the breath had been squeezed out of him.

"Helen!" Poppy yelled at her in shock.

"I'm sorry, Poppy but I have to say it." Helen argued back.

"How can you say something like that?" Lily spat at her. Her green eyes flaring up with anger.

"It is an easy assumption. Harry's in denial about You-Know-Who. He's living a new life in a new situation and is probably finding everything around him difficult to relate too. His mind has gone through shock after shock with no proper help. I wouldn't be surprised if his mind is reverting back to a time when he was most comfortable and safe. When a mind goes through too much shock it closes up and reverts back to a time when it was stress free. It is common knowledge Harry was happy being the Dark Prince. He's made it no secret that he was happy being a follower of the Dark Lord. It isn't all that difficult to assume that at a time when his mind is under such stress, a time when he is unsure of his place in this new world, he reverts back to the one thing he was comfortable as. The Dark Prince."

No one in the room dared to say anything. The group of adults sat stunned by Helen's words. Poppy was looking at Helen with hurt. It was clear that Poppy had asked Helen not to say her theories out loud.

"How is it that you can make such a horrendous claim without even speaking to Harry?" James asked finally through clenched teeth. It was costing him everything he had to not hex her.

"I told you, I am an experienced healer. I can see these things." Helen answered smugly.

"Well, I don't know about that! You seem to have made a lot of _assumptions!_" Lily spat at her.

"I can speak to Harry if you like. Give you a proper report on what his…"

"No thank you! I think you've done enough. You can leave now!" James said, getting up and throwing open the door.

Helen got up slowly, her eyes never leaving James' face.

"You are too arrogant to admit your mistakes. You fail to see the clear signs before you that your son is the one carrying out these attacks. If you don't stop him…"

"I don't have to do anything since Harry's not the one carrying out these attacks. And now if you please, leave and don't bother coming back here!" James snarled at her.

Helen left after giving him a sarcastic look, an embarrassed but livid looking Poppy walking behind her. Just before leaving Helen looked back at James.

"Just to let you know. I won't say anything to anyone about my theories. But don't expect no one else to figure it out. It is plain for every one to see. Every one but you it seems."

"You won't say anything because you have no proof. You haven't had a single chat with Harry. Stop trying to frame my son for the attacks, just so that you can feel you're out of danger!" with that James slammed the door in her face.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Okay, let me know what you think!


	23. Discoveries

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks for all the reviews. I hope you like this chappie. It's the longest yet! Enjoy!

**Chapter Twenty Three**

Everywhere he looked, there were cloaked men, firing spells at each other. Different coloured jets of light were flying across the street, hitting shields or their intended targets. Harry recognised the blue uniform of the Aurors. The men in the black robes had their faces hidden behind white masks. The raging battle was between the Aurors and Death Eaters. Harry looked around at the fighting men, trying to recognise them but he couldn't see anyone he knew, Aurors or Death Eaters.

He was trying to focus at the scene before him but the images before him kept flickering. He knew it wasn't his own memory. He couldn't remember ever fighting alongside the Death Eaters, except for the Hogwarts Express incident. Harry tried to concentrate on the scenes rushing before him. He wasn't apart of the memory. It was like watching the scene from above. The memory was chopping and changing. For a moment he was watching the Aurors fighting with the mass of Death Eaters and the next instant the dark corridors of Riddle Manor were appearing. Random images were flashing before him. Harry felt his head spin and his vision blurred. What was going on? What was this whole dream about?

As if in answer to his question, a ringing laughter was heard. Harry felt his stomach lurch. He knew that voice and that manic laughter. He started focusing on the flashing images with a desperate panic. Everything was spinning before his eyes. Then it slowed down and he saw her. Bella had removed her mask and was laughing wildly as she attacked two Aurors. She looked…different. Maybe it was because he had not seen her in flesh in so long now. Or maybe it was because the last memory he had of her was the empty shell belonging to Bella, after the Dementors Kiss.

Harry felt a burning sensation in his throat and eyes at the image of Bella, fighting with ease and looking like she was enjoying every second of the duel. She loved duelling, especially against a large number of Aurors. 'The more we kill the better!' she used to say.

Harry watched as the images spun around so violently that he felt nauseated. He wanted it to stop. To stop so that he could see Bella again. So full of life, her eyes bright and sparkling as she fought. Not like the empty hollow wells they had become after the Kiss.

Suddenly her laughter stopped and a pained gasp was heard that had to belong to Bella. The sound echoed around Harry, making his heart speed up in fear. What had happened to her? The images were still spinning, so Harry couldn't see her or make out what was happening.

"Bella!" he shouted, desperate to see if she was okay. "Bella! Bella!"

Suddenly the images flashed bright white, blinding Harry and when they dimmed Harry saw the ceiling of his dorm. He had woken up. For once, Harry was disappointed that he had woken. He felt a stinging pain in his stomach. He had wanted to see Bella. The Bella he remembered in all her glory.

Harry lay, listening to the sound of his own heartbeat, thumping in his chest. What had that dream been about? It was a strange dream. Harry was sure he had somehow seen into a real memory. One that wasn't his though. How was that possible? Harry found that he didn't really care. It had brought back an image of Bella. The way he wanted to remember her. He spent the next few hours just lying in his bed, quietly reminiscing the forgotten memories of Bellatrix Lestrange.

xxx

The next few nights for Harry were awful. He never dreamt of Bella. His dreams were taken over by images of Voldemort again. After the fourth night Harry was tempted to take some Dreamless Sleeping potion, even just to get a small, temporary break from the constant nightmares. It was with great will power that he stopped himself from drinking the potion. The vials still lay in his trunk, providing an odd sense of comfort.

Harry was starting to feel his body strain. It was taking a lot out of him to keep on going without little or next to no rest. On the sixth night of virtually no sleep, he contemplated spending the night in his parent's quarters again. He laughed at his own childishness. He was seventeen! He didn't need the comfort of his parents to help him sleep. How was it going to look if he turned up at their door, asking if he could crash on their sofa? He cast all thoughts of that away. He wasn't weak. He wasn't a child. He had grown up a long time ago. He could deal with this. Though exactly how he was going to fight his nightly demons, he had no idea.

As soon as he woke up he knew something was wrong. His body ached and the headache he had was making it difficult to open his eyes. He groaned as Ron's voice hit him making the headache worse.

"Get up, Harry!"

"Alright!" Harry mumbled.

He was back on speaking terms with Ron but he hadn't quite forgotten the 'addict' comment he had made. He found though that he couldn't stay angry with him. He was annoyed still, yes, but not angry with his red haired friend.

"Harry? Mate, are you alright?"

Ron pulled the drapes aside, looking down at Harry. The dark haired boy groaned and shut his eyes to stop the morning light from assaulting his eyes.

"Go away, Ron!" he said weakly.

"Are you okay? You don't look to good." Ron sounded worried.

Harry wondered why he was feeling so ill. He had actually slept quite well last night. It had been eight days since he had slept. He figured it was only a matter of time before his body gave up and he fell into a deep slumber, not allowing any nightmares to disturb him.

Maybe he was ill because he had gone so long without sleep. But Harry knew that wasn't right. He had gone for longer without any sleep.

He pulled himself into an upright position. His arms were trembling under the weight of pushing himself up. His vision swam and he couldn't help the groan that escaped him. Ron was instantly at his side.

"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.

Harry forced open his eyes and looked blearily at him.

"I don't feel too good." He managed to say.

Ron nodded his head.

"Yeah, you don't look too good either."

"You've already said that." Harry reminded him.

Ron gave him a sheepish look. He awkwardly placed a hand on Harry's forehead.

"You're burning up. Looks like you've got a fever." He told him.

Harry could feel the fever building inside him as Ron was speaking. How had he managed to get sick again? He usually never got ill.

Ron told Harry to stay in bed. He could tell Harry's fever was high. Harry tried to get up and prove to Ron that he was fit enough. He could hardly get out of bed though. He grudgingly stayed in bed and watched as Ron left the dorm. Harry didn't even know when his eyes closed and he had fallen into a fever induced sleep.

He woke up when he felt a hand gently caress his forehead. He opened his eyes and saw his mum looking at him. Harry found the sight of his mum sitting next to him, as always, a little odd. As Harry pushed himself so that he could sit up he saw that his mum wasn't the only one in the room. Damien and Ginny were there as well.

"What's going on?" Harry asked, his throat dry and sore.

"Ron told me you weren't feeling well. I just wanted to check on you." Lily told him.

Harry looked pointedly at Damien and Ginny.

"We wanted to see you as well." Ginny told him simply.

Lily fussed over Harry, handing him different vials to drink. Harry took them without a word and drank them, feeling his stomach rebel against them.

"Your fever is really high. What did you do?" she muttered more to herself.

Harry could feel his stomach clench and the potions he had just drunk were not settling.

"Harry?"

Lily only got a moments notice before Harry retched. Ginny let out a horrified gasp as Harry threw up blood. Both Damien and Ginny were at Harry's side, along with Lily, watching in mingled horror as Harry threw up violently. His clothes and part of the quilt were covered in blood.

Lily was lost as to what she could do. She watched as her son kept on throwing up, unable to do anything other than utter his name. She was holding onto him, helping him by rubbing his back. All the blood was unnerving her.

Harry coughed and spat out the last mouthful and fell back against the bed. His ribs were hurting from the retching. Lily quickly spelled away the blood and sat down next to Harry. She was trembling herself.

"Are you okay?" she asked. She mentally berated herself. Of course he wasn't okay. He had just been sick and had thrown up blood!

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around to see a worried looking James standing behind her, his eyes fixed on Harry's pale face.

"James!" Lily stood up.

"What happened?" James asked. He had walked in and saw Lily spelling away the crimson liquid.

"Harry…Harry's sick. I think he needs to see Poppy. He threw up blood." Lily explained. Her hands were shaking as she spoke.

"I'm okay. I don't need to see Poppy." Harry rasped.

Ginny shushed him rather harshly and pushed him to lie back down. Damien was just staring at Harry as if to be certain he was okay.

"He has a really high fever. I gave him a few potions to drink but they made him sick. He needs Poppy." Lily was still talking to James.

James looked at Harry and felt his heart skip a beat. He looked really ill.

"I don't want to see Poppy. She'll keep me in the wing forever. I'm okay, really." Harry tried to tell them. James looked like he agreed with Harry. He personally didn't want Poppy anywhere near Harry again. He pushed aside the anger he still had towards the school nurse and her 'friend' Helen.

"I think you should come to our quarters. I've only got one more class and then I can look after you." James said quietly.

Harry liked that idea more than spending the rest of the week and weekend with Poppy. He loved the school nurse but she fussed over him way too much.

"James, I think he should…" Lily started but was cut off by Harry.

"I don't need to see Poppy. I'm fine really." He said, annoyance creeping into his voice.

"Fine! You think you're fine. You just threw up blood! How is that fine?" Lily yelled, eyes flaring up at once.

Harry was busy arguing with his mum, trying to reassure her that he really was okay. He didn't hear James saying that he was going to take out a fresh pair of clothes out of the trunk for him, so that he could change out of the sweat soaked pyjamas.

By the time he realised what was happening it was too late. James had opened the trunk, intending to take out fresh clothes for him.

"No, wait…"

Everyone on the room froze. Their eyes on the vast number of vials sitting in Harry's trunk. Harry watched in numb panic as his dad looked up from the trunk and stared at him. Disbelief and disappointment clear on his face. Ginny and Damien were looking at Harry in shock. None of them had thought Harry would be that careless of his own health. That he would continue taking the potion, especially after Poppy had made it painstakingly clear what would happen to him if he did.

"Harry?"

Lily was the first one to speak. She was staring at Harry, eyes wide and filled with hurt, fixed on him.

"It…its not…I know how this looks but…I swear, I haven't taken any!" Harry tried to tell them. He knew it was futile though. The evidence in front of them made him look guilty.

James was trying very hard to keep his temper in check. He looked at the vials again and tried to reason that just because they were in his trunk didn't necessarily mean he had taken any. But then why would he keep so many hidden in his trunk? He knew he couldn't take anymore sleeping potion and if he truly never meant to take any then why didn't he get rid of them? Suddenly another thought came to him. Harry was sick. He had just thrown up blood. Poppy had told them that if Harry ever took any more sleeping potion, he would get sick. The potion would become toxic to him. Is that possibly why he threw up blood? Was he perhaps now in Phase two of addiction? The anger James was trying ever so hard to keep at bay came rushing at him in great big waves, taking over him.

"Get up." James quietly instructed him. The anger in his voice wasn't lost on Harry.

"Dad…"

"Get up!"

Harry painfully got to his feet, trying very hard not to collapse. His legs trembled under him but before he could fall back, James had grabbed him tightly by the arm. Harry wondered if the painful grip was to steady him or something else. He cast the doubt aside. His dad wouldn't willingly hurt him. He already knew that.

James literally dragged the sick boy from the room, Lily running behind them, yelling at James to let Harry go. She was thankful that it was lunch time and most of the school was in the Great Hall. Otherwise it was very embarrassing for Harry to be seen like this. James didn't stop or respond to Lily's pleas to let Harry go. Damien and Ginny were rushing behind Lily.

James didn't stop until he reached the hospital wing. He stormed inside, making Poppy jump at the sound of the doors banging open. James pushed Harry harshly towards the bed, making the ill boy stumble.

"James! What…?" Poppy started, shocked at the way James was treating Harry.

"Check him!" James hissed.

Poppy looked from the angry father to the pale faced son. Lily, Damien and Ginny rushed inside only moments later.

"James! What do you think you're doing?" Lily yelled.

"Check him, Poppy!" James repeated, ignoring Lily.

"Check him? For what? What is going on?" Poppy asked truly perplexed.

James turned to face Harry, who was leaning against the bed, hands clutching the bed to stay upright, eyes cast on the floor.

"Check him to see if he's taken any sleeping potion!" James said.

Harry looked up to meet James' eyes. He opened his mouth to say once again that he hadn't taken any potion. But he knew that no one was going to believe him. He thought maybe it was better if Poppy did test him. That way his dad would believe him.

Poppy looked puzzled and argued that Harry wouldn't take the potion. That he had promised not to take any. Lily told her what they had found in Harry's trunk. Poppy looked as shocked as the rest. She turned disbelieving eyes on Harry and finally understood why James was so angry. Harry still didn't say anything.

Poppy silently approached Harry and told him to sit on the bed. Harry complied. As she took a blood sample so she could do the test, Harry's eyes met with his James. He kept his eyes fixed on his dad as Poppy extracted the blood. Lily ushered Damien and Ginny away, not wanting to cause any more embarrassment to Harry.

Poppy stood, holding the small diagnosis vial, waiting for the analysis to run its course. The awkwardness hanging in the air was choking them. Harry was focusing on the ground, not wanting to look at anyone in the room. James and Lily were too angry and upset to say anything either. Poppy silently willed the analysis to finish quickly. The tension was killing her. Finally the test finished and Poppy had to look at the results twice to understand them.

She approached Harry and stared at him hard. She had not expected this of him.

"You have traces of sleeping potion in your blood." She said simply.

Harry snapped up his head to look at her.

"What!"

James closed his eyes and was trying desperately to keep a hold on his temper.

"That's not possible! I didn't take any potions. I swear, I didn't." Harry couldn't believe this. How could his test show traces of the sleeping potion when he hadn't taken any.

"I'm not lying, Harry. The result is right here. It's a simple test to show what potions are in your system. It clearly says that there are remnants of sleeping potion in your system. You can see for yourself." Poppy handed him the small diagnosis vial.

Harry didn't take it, he was staring at Poppy, heart thumping loudly in his chest. His head felt like it was about to split in two. What the hell was going on?

"I…this can't be right! I haven't touched the stuff and I don't have any intentions of taking it, ever!" he said, a note of pleading in his voice.

"Is that why you have some two hundred vials hidden in your trunk?" James asked, clenching his teeth in anger.

"I…it's not like that! I had the potions before I found out I was addicted. I kept them but I didn't actually drink any!"

No matter how many times Harry argued the point, no one believed him. The fact of the matter was that all the evidence pointed to one thing, that Harry had a secret stock of Dreamless Sleeping potion and judging by how ill he was, he had continued taking them. Harry finally gave up fighting. It wasn't going to work. No one believed him.

"I'm going to have to keep him in. Until the potion clears out of his system, he'll probably be really sick. It's clear that he's been taking the potion on many occasions. That's why he's fallen so ill. It's better if I can keep an eye on him until the potion is completely out of his system." Poppy told Lily.

Harry wished he had the strength to get up. Then he could just disappear away from the lot of them. He didn't think he had the energy to Disapparate.

James and Lily left, both not even sparing a single glance at Harry. They were too angry to say even a word to him. He tried not to let their disappointment bother him. It did though and he hated himself for it. Poppy worked in tense silence, handing him other vials. Harry took them with resignation. As soon as the potions hit his stomach, he brought them back up again. He didn't even get the chance to warn Poppy. Blood covered his clothes and the bed, in which he was sitting.

Poppy looked horrified at the sight of blood but she didn't say anything. She cleared the blood away with a flick of her wand. Harry lay back, still coughing and tying to catch his breath. Poppy looked at him but didn't offer any words of comfort. Harry knew exactly what she was thinking. It was pretty obvious from the look on her face. She was thinking that he deserved it, since he had taken the potions after being warned not to.

xxx

Poppy was exhausted by the end of the day. She had tried to give Harry all she could to bring the fever down. No matter what she did, Harry continued to get worse. He couldn't stomach any potions at all, and without the potions, his fever continued to rise.

She reverted to the old muggle ways and used cold packs to bring down the fever. Harry didn't say a word to her. He kept quiet and refused to look at her. She thought it was better that way. She wouldn't know what she could say to him anyway.

By dinner time, Harry had fallen into a fever induced sleep. Poppy continued to be at his side, she had charmed the cold packs to stay cool but she still stayed at his side. She looked up to see Damien and the other three Gryffindors standing at the door.

"He's not awake. And I don't think he's in any state for company. You can leave." She told them.

But that didn't encourage them to leave. On the contrary, Harry's weak condition made them stay and they argued with Poppy until she gave in.

"Oh, alright! Just don't wake him up." She instructed. She hurried away into her office, to make herself a much needed cup of tea.

The group of four sat next to Harry and talked quietly amongst themselves. They didn't know what to think. They couldn't fathom why Harry would let himself get into this type of condition. On the other hand they knew that Harry had more sense than to continue taking the potions.

They were talking quietly but it still woke Harry up.

"…I wonder how many times he's taken the potion?" Hermione was saying.

"I don't think he has. I've noticed that he's usually up really early. He hardly sleeps. If he was taking the potion he would have been sleeping properly." Ron answered. Harry felt immense gratitude towards him.

"Then why is he so ill?" Ginny asked.

"Beats me." said Harry.

The four hushed up at once as Harry opened his eyes and stared at them. His eyes were bloodshot and you could see the pain and fever in them.

Harry struggled to sit up but managed with Damien's help.

"I didn't take it." He said to them.

"We believe you." Ron replied, even though Hermione looked like she was in two minds.

"What did Poppy say? What's wrong with you?" Damien asked.

Harry told them about the test and what the results were. The four didn't react but the colour drained from their faces.

"…she thinks I'm still in Phase one but another incident like this, she warned me I would go into Phase two." Harry finished miserably.

"Are you absolutely certain that you didn't take any? I mean you could have taken some in the middle of the night, without being fully aware." Hermione suggested.

Harry was about to tell her, using very colourful words, how stupid that suggestion was but then stopped. What did he do the night before? With a sickening jolt he realised that he didn't remember. He didn't remember the night before at all. Harry recalled the strong desire he had a few nights ago to take a small sip of the potion. But he had held back. He didn't drink any. But what if, in the middle of the night, subconsciously he had reached out and taken a vial? What if he had drunk some without fully being aware? The thought sent shivers up his spine. Was he really that sleep deprived that he was doing things without being fully aware?

Damien noticed the look of Harry's face and asked him what was wrong. Harry felt the urge to tell them about his memory lapses. He had to tell someone. He had to get the words out before he went crazy with self doubt.

Taking a shaky breath, Harry told them about not remembering last night. He told them about all the other nights he couldn't recall. With great effort and trust in the four before him, he told them about the link between the memory lapses and the nights of the attacks. As soon as the words were out of his mouth he saw the horrified reactions of the other four.

"What are you trying to say?" Ginny asked.

"I don't know." Harry answered. "I don't know what this means, but I had to say something. I haven't told anyone about this."

"Have…have you ever had any other memory lapses? I mean on nights that there are no attacks?" Hermione asked. She was trying very hard not to freak out. Harry wasn't responsible for the attacks. He just couldn't be.

Harry nodded his head.

"Sometimes, yeah. A few times I've woken up with no memory of the night before, but there haven't been any attacks. Like today, there were no attacks, were there?" he asked.

Ron shook his head. It was all he could do right now. He didn't have the strength to speak.

"So, it's just a coincidence! That's all it is, Harry. Just a freaky coincidence." Damien said at once.

Harry felt reassured. At least Damien didn't think he was guilty. Hermione looked awfully pale but told him that she thought it was a coincidence as well.

"We know it's not you, Harry. For one, someone would have seen you leaving. You can't apparate from Hogwarts…"

Harry couldn't help throw Damien a worried look.

"…and secondly, the person carrying out these horrid attacks has been killing children. You would never do that." Hermione finished.

They would have continued talking but at that moment the doors opened and James and Lily came inside. They looked a lot calmer than before but they were still giving Harry rather harsh looks.

The four teens got up to leave. They knew that James and Lily wanted to have a private chat with Harry. The ill boy didn't particularly look like he was looking forward to it. Just as Damien passed by James he spoke quietly to him, so only he could hear him.

"He's really ill, dad. Reminds me of the time he was sick after the magical transfer."

James looked abruptly at him. Damien continued, looking James in the eyes.

"Remember the time he sacrificed his magic and suffered in pain so that he could save your life? He was really ill then and he was all alone. At least he has you guys with him now."

Damien left after saying that. Hopefully now his dad would go easy on Harry.

xxx

It took two days for Harry's fever to break. Unable to take any medication, Harry had to just silently suffer. There wasn't anything anyone could do. Finally when he was better, Poppy let him go. She, along with his parents had talked non stop about the dangers of taking anymore sleeping potion. Harry had had enough. As soon as he walked out of the hospital wing, James had taken him to his quarters.

"We have to sort this out." He told him quietly.

"I know, dad. I know all about the potential dangers of taking the potion. I swear I won't touch it." Harry automatically answered.

"No, not about that. I'm sure you learnt your lesson." James answered. It had been awful to see Harry suffer so much.

Harry had to bite down on his tongue to keep from cursing. How many times did he have to say he hadn't intentionally taken the potion?

"So what did you want to sort out?" Harry asked instead.

"Your sleeping problem." James answered. "I've spoken to Poppy and she's told me that the only way to deal with your nightmares is to talk about them."

Harry looked at James and wondered if he was being serious.

"You want me to talk to you about my nightmares?" he asked.

"I know it might seem be strange…"

"Might seem strange? No, dad. It really would be strange!" Harry interrupted.

"You don't want to talk to me about them?" James asked eyes fixed on Harry.

"No, I don't." Harry replied.

"Why?" James asked

"Why? Because there is no point in talking to you. You won't be able to help me. Talking about them isn't going to make them go away." Harry replied. 'And it's incredibly private as well!' he mentally added.

"Okay, how about talking to a professional, like a mind healer?" James really didn't want to suggest someone like Helen, but if that would help heal Harry, then he was going to take the chance.

Harry was suddenly on his feet, glaring at James.

"A mind healer? You want me to see a mind healer?" he asked heatedly.

"It's not that ridiculous an idea. Maybe a mind healer will be able to help you." James reasoned.

Harry was staring at James in shock.

"I'm not seeing a mind healer! I'm not a…a nut job!" he said angrily.

"I never said you were…" James tried.

"You didn't say it but that's what you're suggesting!"

"No, I'm not! I'm only trying to help you. You've been through so much, and I want to help you. I can't stand back and watch you suffer day after day."

Harry refused to let James guilt trip him into seeing a healer.

"I can work out my problems myself. I'm not seeing a mind healer!" Harry stubbornly argued.

"Fine, don't see one. But at least talk to someone. If you don't want to talk to me then talk to someone else. Talk to your mum, or Sirius or maybe Remus…"

"You don't get it do you?" Harry yelled, cutting James off. "I don't want to talk to anyone. My nightmares are for me to deal with. I'm not discussing them with anyone. It's too private!"

James tried reasoning with Harry but it was futile. Harry had his mind made up.

"I appreciate what you are trying to do, I really do. But you have to let me figure this out myself." Harry said as calmly as he could.

"You're obviously not getting anywhere. You keep on suffering and unless you let someone help you, it'll only get worse." James tried to explain.

"Trust me, it can't get any worse." Harry mumbled.

At that point Lily walked in and Harry took his chance to leave.

He stayed away from James after that and avoided him in Defence classes refusing to even look at him. James tried many times to talk to him but Harry wasn't giving in to him.

"You can't avoid him forever." Damien tried.

"Watch me." Harry replied.

All five were sitting in the common room, in their usual seats, drinking their butterbeers. It was only the five of them left. Ron, Damien and Ginny were trying to cheer Harry up. It was evident how depressed Harry was about the way his relationship with his dad was going.

Hermione was keeping out of the conversation. She agreed to an extent with James. That Harry really needed to talk to someone about his nightmares. But she was smart enough to keep that opinion to herself. She was not ready to get on Harry's bad side.

"Just go talk to him. He's been desperate to talk to you." Ginny tried to tell him.

Harry shook his head. He sat holding his bottle loosely in his hands, making to effort to drink from it.

"Harry, are you going to finish that?" Ron asked, pointing at the partly filled bottle of butterbeer in Harry's hand.

Harry handed him the bottle without saying anything. Hermione glared at Ron who didn't see what he had done wrong.

"I'm going to bed!" Harry said after a few minutes.

As soon as Harry left, Hermione started on Ron.

"Do you ever think about anything other than food!?!" she yelled.

"What? He wasn't going to finish it. Why let good butterbeer go to waste?" Ron argued.

Damien sighed and tried to ignore the bickering couple. Ginny decided to join him rather than get involved with the fight. Both tried to distract themselves from the arguing couple by flicking through Damien's black book.

"You just make a huge deal about everything!" Ron told Hermione, annoyed at being yelled at.

"You were unbelievably insensitive!" Hermione yelled at him.

"Will the two of you break it up!" Ginny said annoyed, at this rate they were going to wake up everyone in the castle.

"All you ever think about is food! Harry was so upset about the situation with his dad and all you were interested in was his drink!" As Hermione said the word 'drink' she gestured towards it. Her hand caught the bottle unintentionally and it went flying out of Ron's hand.

The bottle hit the table and the contents spilt over Damien, drenching his book that was currently listing the properties of blue ink.

"Ron!" Damien yelled, standing up and snatching his book up with him.

"Oh, Damy! I'm sorry!" Hermione apologised. The black book was completely drenched in the sticky butterbeer.

"Here, I'll fix it." Ron said and grabbed the book from him, while Hermione did a drying spell on Damien's robes.

"That's my present from Harry! It better not smell of butterbeer!" Damien complained.

"Calm down, your book is fine. I'll just do a drying spell and it'll be as good as new." Ron assured him. He turned over the 'Book of Knowledge' as Damien liked calling it and started drying it.

"I'm really sorry, Damy. I never meant to knock it out of Ron's hand. I thought he had a better grip on it. Considering it's the only thing he's interested in!" Hermione said, throwing her boyfriend a glare.

Ron however didn't respond. He was standing with the book held in front of him. His eyes fixed on the open pages.

"Ron…?" Ginny watched as her brothers eyes widened with horror. His expression caught the interest of the other two as well.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, momentarily forgetting their argument.

"Since when does butterbeer have Sedare potion as one of its ingredients?" Ron asked.

Ron's words sent a shiver of shock through them. They rushed over to him. Ron held out the book in front of them. Damien saw with his own eyes, the ingredients for butterbeer had a sub category, listing the ingredients that make up Sedare Potion.

"What…what is this?" Ginny asked, her voice trembling.

Hermione grabbed the book and stared at the page, as if trying to decipher if the writing was actually there or if they were imagining it. Sedare potion, there was Sedare potion in the butterbeer!

Ron instantly went to the cabinet holding the butterbeers and pulled out another bottle. He cast a quick drying charm on the book, making the pages go blank. He dropped a few drops into the book and watched as spidery lines started appearing on the opposite page. As he had suspected, this bottle wasn't spiked with Sedare potion.

"What is going on?" Damien asked, feeling shivers of unease run up his spine.

"It's obvious isn't it?" Hermione answered, looking at the book. "Someone is drugging Harry."

No one could find anything to say in response to that. Hermione picked up the spilt bottle and examined it carefully.

"This was Harry's drink. Harry was supposed to drink it, not Ron." She told them in a worried voice.

"That's insane! Why would someone do something like that?" Ginny asked, her fear not allowing her to believe Hermione.

"I think we know the answer to that, Ginny." Ron said.

Damien hushed him and pulled out his wand. He cast the Silencio charm around the room, in case anyone woke up and eavesdropped on them. The group sat close together, eyes glued to each others faces.

"Okay, let's look at this with all the facts." Hermione started.

"Harry keeps his butterbeers separate from the rest because he doesn't like them chilled. Everyone knows that. So that made it relatively easy to spike his drink." She thought for a moment before addressing Ron.

"Can you bring a bottle from his shelf?"

Ron fetched it and dropped some into the book. It came up clear from Sedare potion.

"I thought that. Whoever it is didn't want to spike every bottle. Harry would easily become suspicious." Hermione continued.

"How would he become suspicious?" Ron asked.

"Think about it! If Harry fell into deep sleep every time he had some butterbeer to drink, then he would easily figure out that there was something in them. Also, do you remember when he first gave you the book, Damy? He tested it with his butterbeer. The book showed the ingredients of the butterbeer and there was no Sedare potion in it then. That proves that not every bottle is spiked. Whoever this person is, only spikes his bottles every so often." Hermione concluded.

"Harry's memory lapses!" Damien exclaimed suddenly. "Hermione, that's it! That's why Harry's been having memory lapses. Every time he drinks the butterbeer spiked with Sedare potion he falls into a deep sleep and that's probably why he doesn't remember the night before!"

"That makes sense." Ron added. "Sedare potion is different to Dreamless Sleeping potion. The Dreamless sleeping potion makes you fall into a dreamless sleep almost instantly. But the Sedare potion doesn't do that. It takes time to work through your system. Depending on the dosage and the strength of the potion, it could take anything between half an hour to four hours to fall asleep."

Hermione was staring at Ron in barely hidden affection.

"What? I read that in the potions book Professor Potter gave me." He explained.

"Okay, so that means that the memory lapses Harry told us about are caused by the potion." Damien summarised. "Harry has nothing to do with the Dark Prince attacks. He's not connected to them in any way." Damien had to admit that knowledge brought immense relief.

"But Harry said that he had memory lapses on the nights of the attacks. That means that whoever is spiking his drinks knew that the attacks were about to happen and that's why they spiked his drink on those particular nights" Hermione said, thinking her thoughts out loud.

Her words were followed by silence. The full impact of Hermione's words hit home.

"Oh God!" Ginny exclaimed. "Someone in Hogwarts in helping the Dark Prince! They are making sure Harry's out of the way, before an attack happens. They are trying to frame Harry for the attacks!"

"Or they are trying to make Harry question his actions. He can't remember the nights of the attacks, making him doubt himself. Remember, Harry told us that a few times he has woken up without the previous nights memory but there have been no attacks. That was on purpose to make him think he's losing his mind. They're trying to drive him crazy." Hermione said worriedly.

The truths of that statement made all of them gulp silently in fear.

"Do you realise that whoever this person is, that's helping the Dark Prince, they have to be from Gryffindor." Damien said quietly after a few minutes. The other four stared at him in shock.

"Who in Gryffindor would want to hurt Harry?" Ginny asked, appalled at the assumption.

"Well, let me see." Ron said in a mocking tone. "How about the one person that still hasn't acknowledged Harry's presence. The one person who openly hates him!"

Hermione looked confusedly at Ron before she understood who Ron was hinting at.

"Ron! You can't honestly blame Neville! He couldn't do something like this. And in any case, you have no proof!"

"I have all the proof I need. He shares the same room as us. He has better access to Harry than anyone else."

"I don't think it's Neville." Hermione argued.

"I don't think it's anyone from Gryffindor." Ginny added.

"It has to be. The Gryffindors are the only ones who have access to the butterbeers. And it's obvious that the bottles only get spiked one at a time and only on certain nights. That means that the person has to have regular access to them. It has to be a Gryffindor. No one else can get access to the butterbeers." Hermione concluded.

"Not exactly." Ron said, his face growing red with suppressed anger. "There is a certain Slytherin who has our password." He spat.

Damien felt his heart flip in his chest. It couldn't be Malfoy! He was Harry's friend. He hated the rest of them but he couldn't hurt Harry. At least, Damien didn't think he could.

"Ron, Draco is Harry's friend. Why would he hurt him?" Ginny asked.

"Why? Maybe because he's nothing more than a filthy snake! Think about it. Malfoy didn't help Harry because he wanted to. He had to help him, Professor Dumbledore and Snape made him help. And don't forget, since Harry killed Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy has been on the run. From what I've heard, Narcissa and Draco are having money trouble as the Ministry has taken over everything. Don't you think it's possible that Malfoy is regretting being Harry's friend? Or that maybe he's gone insane with jealously? After all he lost his dad and his family fortune whereas Harry got his family back and has a comfortable life. Maybe Draco saw a chance for revenge and took it." Ron looked pretty confident that Draco was the likely culprit.

"I don't know, Ron. It seems unlikely that Draco would attack Harry like this. They've been friends since they were kids." Hermione said. She hated the Slytherin but could recognise the loyalty he had towards Harry. Ron, however couldn't.

"Hermione, he's not a true friend. He doesn't know what being a friend is! And in case if you remember correctly, these attacks and Harry's memory lapses didn't start until Malfoy came back. He met us a few weeks before the Christmas Ball. That was the night of the first attack. And Harry was late coming to the ball because he was meeting with Malfoy." Ron announced.

"How do you know that?" Ginny asked, surprised.

"Harry told me." Ron told her. "Malfoy could have easily spiked Harry's drink after he left to meet Ginny. And that day I saw him in here, he was standing next to the cabinet, looking at the bottles. He even took one out, remember. He was trying to see which bottles were Harry's. And we actually pointed them out to him! We told him that Harry's drinks were on the bottom shelf, away from the chilling charm, Hermione had cast on the top shelf. That's how Malfoy knew which ones to spike."

Ron had a look of triumph on his face. He had figured it out.

"I don't know, Ron. Maybe it was a coincidence." Damien said still being able to think of Draco as Harry's enemy.

"Look at the evidence, Damy! Every time there had been an attack, Malfoy's been around. The Christmas ball, Malfoy was with Harry, maybe even in the common room. The second attack was the night we came back from holidays, Malfoy had officially come back. He could have snuck in and spiked our drinks before we all arrived. Even all the other times, Malfoy would be able to sneak in and spike the drinks in the middle of the night, he had our password! It makes perfect sense."

Damien didn't want to believe him but it was looking more and more likely that Draco had some hand in this. He wasn't going to fully believe it though, until they had some sort of proof.

Suddenly Ginny let out a gasp and covered her mouth. Her brown eyes were brimming with tears.

"Ginny?" Damien asked, looking at her in concern. Ginny lowered her hand and looked at them, pain clear in her brown orbs.

"Harry was right." She whispered. "Harry was telling the truth, about not taking the sleeping potion. He was certain he hadn't taken any but we convinced him that he must have taken some in the middle of the night. But we had all drank butterbeer the night before. That must have been why he fell ill. Remember, Harry told us that Poppy had said there was sleeping potion traces in his blood? It wasn't Dreamless Sleeping potion, it must have been Sedare potion! The test only showed that there was _a _sleeping potion in his system. It didn't show exactly what kind of sleeping potion it was. Don't you see? None of this was Harry's fault. He didn't overdose on the sleeping potions. He was being careful with the doses, just like he always said he was. His addiction wasn't because of the Dreamless Sleeping potion. It was because of the Sedare potion mixed in with the butterbeer! That's what caused the overdose and led to addiction! He's suffering now because of this person who spiked his drinks."

The four looked on the verge of tears. This wasn't a harmless prank someone played on Harry. This was serious. Harry's health was seriously affected by it. Someone was playing a very dangerous game with Harry.

"We have to tell him!" Ginny continued. "He has to know."

Ron got up and headed towards the cabinet, pulling out his wand.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked as Ron raised his wand.

"Destroying the rest of these bottles, what does it look like?" Ron asked.

"You can't." Hermione stated simply. Ron stared at her.

"Hermione, these are being used to hurt Harry. We have to get rid of them so that Harry can't be drugged anymore." Ron explained.

"Think about it!" Hermione hissed at him. "If we destroy these we show right away that we found out about the Sedare potion. We have no idea who is behind this, yes, Ronald! We don't know. We can't be certain it's Malfoy! Not without any concrete proof!" she added when she saw Ron about to open his mouth to argue.

"So what are you saying? We keep these here, allow Harry to continue being drugged?" Damien asked angrily.

"Of course not! We're not going to let Harry come anywhere near them, but we can't get rid of them. Not until we find out who's behind this. Who is the Dark Prince's helping hand? If we get rid of these now, whoever is harming Harry will find another way to get to him. And without knowing who is trying to hurt Harry, we won't be able to protect him. If we keep on acting like we are none the wiser, we have a chance to catch this person red handed. Then we can possibly get to the Dark Prince as well."

Damien could feel his heart speed up at this plan. Hermione was right. They had to catch who this person was. The idea that someone in the school, or even more worryingly, in Gryffindor was harming Harry was very frightening.

"But Harry will know to stay away from these. We are going to tell him aren't we?" Ginny asked, picking up Hermione's words.

"I think we shouldn't tell him." Hermione said quietly. "I think it would do him no good finding out he was being drugged and that his health is suffering because of it."

"I think it wouldn't do our health any good keeping something as big as this from him. Think how mad he will be when he finds out we knew and we didn't tell him?" Ginny argued.

"Ginny, I think Hermione's right." Damien said. Ginny turned to look at him in shock. "Mum told me that when Harry was first captured by the Order, he was afraid that Moody was going to slip him some Veritaserum so he refused to eat or drink anything for three days, including potions that were meant to heal him. He stayed in pain but wasn't willing to take the chance of being drugged. Think what he would go through if he found out about this." Damien didn't want Harry to be paranoid about everything. Deep inside he was afraid Harry might leave Hogwarts if he found out he was being drugged. He would understand if Harry did, he had every right to leave but he didn't know how to survive without Harry.

"We can't not tell him! That's just asking for trouble." Ginny argued.

"We will tell him. We'll tell him once we've caught the person responsible. We'll tell Harry everything." Hermione reassured her.

"I don't know. I don't like keeping things from Harry, especially something as big as this!" Ginny said looking nervously at the other three.

"It's better for him not to know just yet. We can't scare the culprit away. If Harry, or Mr and Mrs Potter finds out they would make it obvious that they know about the Sedare potion. Any chance we have at catching this Dark Princes' helper would be lost. This is really serious and we have to be very careful not to mess it up." Hermione said.

Ginny wasn't happy and in all honesty neither were the other three. They all understood that this was the only plan they had however.

"So how are we going to catch this person?" Ron asked.

Hermione furrowed her brow.

"I'll think of something. In the time being, everyone keep an eye on Harry."

"I still say we tell Harry everything." Ginny said again.

"Ginny, trust me. It's better this way. Once we get the person responsible we'll hand him over to Harry and tell him everything. Then Harry can deal with him his own way." Hermione explained.

"Harry's going to have to get in line." Ron said with a glower.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Well, there you have it. Finally, you know Harry is not the Dark Prince. I guess you still have plenty of things to guess about ;)

Please review to let me know what you think! Thanks!!


	24. Must be Malfoy

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks for all the reviews. I hope you like this chappie. Enjoy!

**Chapter Twenty Four**

Damien didn't sleep all night. He kept thinking about what Ron had said. He didn't want to believe him. He didn't want to think that Draco was the one hurting Harry. It didn't make sense for him to be the one doing this. He thought about the other possible suspect. He didn't think Neville would be capable of hurting Harry like this either. He knew how much animosity he had towards Harry but to actually try and frame him for crimes he didn't do was, well, just evil. But then again, Neville still thought of Harry as evil. Damien shut his eyes and willed theses horrid thoughts away. The truth was that even though he had been through so much in the past year, Damien was still very much naïve when it came to how certain minds worked. He couldn't think of anyone in Hogwarts who could do such a thing.

While sitting at breakfast in the Great Hall, Damien couldn't help but notice how tired Ron, Hermione and Ginny looked. It seemed he wasn't the only who had trouble sleeping. Harry didn't seem to notice. He was having trouble keeping his own eyes open.

Damien felt his heart skip a few beats as the owls swooped in with the newspapers and mail clutched in their beaks. He shared a frantic look with Hermione. Ron and Ginny were looking at the owls with anticipation as well. They all knew an attack had happened even before reading the paper. Damien didn't know why that thought hadn't occurred to them last night? If Harry's drink was spiked last night, it must have been because the Dark Prince had planned to carry out an attack.

As expected the Hall fell silent as the news was read. Damien saw Harry's face turn pale as he glanced at the headline, before closing his eyes in tired defeat and shaking his head, as if denying the truth of the attacks. A great feeling of shame washed through Damien. What was he doing? He was letting his brother think he was perhaps responsible for the deaths. He saw a similar expression of shame on Ginny's face. She looked at Damien and looked away, eyes brimming with tears.

Damien felt his appetite wither away. He sat feeling the weight of guilt and shame settle in the pit of his stomach. He was an awful brother. He was being selfish and stupid. He had to tell Harry. He had to explain to him that he was in no way responsible for the Dark Prince attack.

Before he could force the words to come out from his mouth, a voice behind him interrupted.

"Harry, a quick word if you don't mind?"

He turned to see his dad standing behind him. A copy of the newspaper clutched in his hand. His stomach turned at the sight. His dad didn't think the attacker was Harry, did he?

Harry got up, resignation on his face. He followed James out of the Hall. Most of the students were making their way up to classes. Damien sprinted behind them. He was going to tell both of them what he had learned yesterday. He wasn't going to let Harry think he was guilty any longer.

Just as he reached the corridor he felt Ron and Hermione grab him from the behind.

"Damy! Where are you going?" Ron asked.

"Let go, Ron. I have to tell Harry. I have to tell him about the Sed-"

"Damien!" Hermione yelled cutting him off. She couldn't believe he was about to talk about the Sedare potion in the middle of the corridor, in front of the whole school!

They pulled Damien into an alcove, Ginny trailing them looking awkwardly at them. Once they were hidden inside the alcove, Ron let go of Damien, who instantly tried to get way.

"Let me go! This is wrong! We shouldn't keep this from Harry. He should know the truth! I have to tell my parents otherwise they'll keep on blaming Harry!" Damien tried to go around Ron and Hermione who were blocking him.

"Damien, calm down! You're not thinking clearly. We can't tell them, not yet." Hermione said trying to keep her voice low so no one could overhear her.

"No, Hermione, this isn't right! Harry will hate us when he finds out we kept the truth from him. Didn't you see his face right now? He thinks he might be responsible for the attacks! We can't lie to him! I can't lie to him." He finished desperately.

"He's right, Hermione. I was saying last night we should tell him everything." Ginny said, siding with Damien. "Please, let's tell him and Mr and Mrs Potter everything!"

"Both of you are being silly!" Ron hissed annoyed at them.

"Do you think we don't feel the same as you do? Do you think we enjoy keeping Harry in the dark? Of course we don't! But can't you see we have to keep this from him! Don't you know what Harry is like? How do you think he will react when he finds out he was being drugged? There is no way he will remain calm. He will explode and the person who is responsible will be warned and then we'll never be able to catch him." Hermione explained.

Damien and Ginny looked unconvinced so Hermione continued in a much calmer tone.

"I know you're feeling guilty, I feel like that too but we have to do what's best. Harry's not one to act responsibly. He's incredibly emotional and acts from the heart. You saw what he was like when Bella was arrested. He was the most wanted wizard and yet he walked boldly into the Ministry itself to rescue her. He doesn't have the patience to wait and work out who the traitor is. He'll make it known openly that he knows about the butterbeers. Then we'll never catch the person responsible. We have to be very careful. We have this one chance to catch the traitor. We can't mess it up."

Damien felt his energy leave him. He slumped his shoulders and looked away. He knew Hermione was right, Harry would co crazy but that still didn't make it right to hide the truth from it, did it?

"We'll tell Harry everything as soon as we work out who it is, I promise." Hermione said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"He's going to be so mad at us." Damien said in a quiet voice.

"I know." That was all Hermione could say.

xxx

"I need your invisibility cloak!" Hermione whispered to Damien.

"What? Why?" he asked.

"I'm going to sneak into Hogsmeade today. I just thought of the perfect thing to help us catch the…the traitor!" she whispered the last word.

"What is it?" Damien asked, excited at the idea. Hermione shook her head.

"Not yet. Let me get the thing first."

So, as planned, Hermione put on the invisibility cloak and sneaked out of the school during the period before lunch. She pretended to be sick in Charms class so that the Professor would let her leave. Instead of going to the Hospital wing, she left to visit Hogsmeade.

Harry was surprised to see Hermione looking rather flustered, running towards their table at lunch. She had missed most of the meal.

"Where were you? I thought you were supposed to be with Poppy?" he asked as she sat down.

"I was with her. She said I'm fine now. I can come back to class." Hermione said quickly.

Harry looked at her in surprise. That was perhaps the quickest anyone had escaped from Poppy.

"How did you get away? What did you tell her?" he asked.

"That I would have a heart attack if I missed anymore classes." Hermione told him with a crooked smile.

Harry laughed and picked up his spoon to finish his pudding. Hermione shared a significant look with the other three. Ginny, sitting nearest to Harry was looking positively sick. The strain of keeping something so big from her boyfriend was showing. She kept shooting pleading looks to Ron and Hermione, gesturing towards Harry. Both kept shaking their heads at her discreetly. They couldn't explain everything to Harry yet. Ginny sent them both a very dirty glare before picking up her bag and leaving. Harry was left looking at little bewildered with his girlfriend's unusual behaviour. He looked at Ron and Hermione who shrugged to show they didn't know what was wrong. Damien was keeping his head down and his gaze averted. He couldn't lie to Harry. If Harry saw him right now he would be able to read what was happening from his expression.

"I take it everything went okay with your dad?" Hermione asked, seeing that Harry was in a relatively happy mood.

Harry grinned again. "Yeah, he just wanted to get me out of the hall. Too many people staring and all that." He added.

"Does the Order have any idea who the Dark Prince is?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, me." Harry said it so calmly, it were as if he were talking about the weather. Damien choked on his mouthful and had to spit it out. He stared at Harry in utter shock.

Harry smirked at the reaction. Ron and Hermione were looking at Harry with the same expression as Damien.

"What?" Hermione whispered without really meaning to.

"Come on, guys. I'm not stupid. I know everyone thinks it's me. I can't really blame them, seeing as the Dark Prince _was_ me in the past. It makes sense for them to suspect me." Harry explained.

"And you're okay with that." Damien asked, confused as to how anyone could possibly be okay with something like that.

Harry shrugged. "There's not much I can do about it. I know that I am going to be blamed for a lot of things in the future. I realised that this Christmas."

Ron suddenly turned red and diverted his gaze. He had found out what Charlie had said about Harry and still felt ashamed on his brother's behalf.

"You seem to be really composed about it all." Hermione said a note of pride in her voice.

"I think dad may have slipped me a calming draught when I went to see him." Harry said, grinning again.

"That explains a lot!" Ron said with a relieved look on his face. "I thought you had lost it completely."

Harry laughed and even Damien managed to chuckle quietly at Ron's comment. Hermione gave him a disapproving look but didn't say anything.

"So, is everything normal between you and dad?" Damien asked hopefully.

Harry's smile slipped of his face and he turned to look at the figure sitting at the staff table.

"Far from it." Harry whispered, a hint of sadness in his voice.

Damien didn't ask anything else. It was clear that Harry and his dad's relationship had a long way to go before it could ever be termed as normal.

That evening, after everyone, including Harry, had gone to bed, the four Gryffindors huddled in front of the cabinet holding the remaining Butterbeers. Ron and Ginny had cast the secrecy spells around them so no one would overhear them.

"Right, what was this thing you had left to get?" Ron asked Hermione.

The bushy haired girl looked around her to make sure they were not being watched. She pulled out a wrapped up package out of her robes. She unfurled the parcel and pulled out a small glass orb. She held it up for the others to see.

"What is it?" Ginny asked. It looked like the device they had planted in Grimmauld place, so that they could record the Order meetings.

"It's an image catcher. I'm going to place it above the cabinet here." Hermione reached over and placed it directly above the cabinet. Tapping it with her wand she cast a disillusion charm on it, making the glass orb blend into the background. That way, no one could spot it. "It can record up to twelve hours. I've got another one here so that we can swap them around. The plan is simple. This will record whoever comes to the cabinet. If anyone takes out a bottle and replaces it with another one or spikes it and places it back into the cabinet, we'll know about it. That way we can see who is spiking the drinks and catch them."

"That's brilliant Hermione!" Ron exclaimed, smiling broadly at her.

"It should work. We'll have to check the orbs every twelve hours. I think we should check it at midnight before going to bed and at midday, before lunch. That way we'll be well covered. We should be able to catch this traitor very soon!" Hermione added.

"It better be soon. I don't think I can look at Harry and keep the truth from him any longer." Ginny said, biting her lip in worry.

Damien couldn't help but agree.

xxx

A week passed by and they were no nearer to solving out who was drugging Harry. The four Gryffindors had agreed to keep the truth still hidden from Harry. A decision that they all recognised to be a dangerous one, but they hoped that once they caught whoever was responsible that person could take the brunt of Harry's rage.

Damien actually found it amusing how afraid they all were of Harry. He himself knew that Harry wouldn't do anything to them, probably just yell at them and give them the silent treatment for a few weeks. He could be quite hurtful if he wanted at times. Still the thought of Harry finding out that they were keeping such a big thing from him was scary.

The glass orbs were working but whoever the traitor was hadn't made a move yet. The four took it turns to sit and look through the twelve hours worth of footage. Luckily, Hermione had taught them a spell that speeded up the orb, letting them sift through the images. Most images were of Gryffindors approaching the cabinet to take out a few drinks. No foul play was detected.

"I can't believe we haven't caught him yet!" Ginny complained.

"I know it's very infuriating!" Hermione said tiredly. She had been up until three that morning, sifting through the orbs footage. Between checking the orb and attending classes Hermione hardly any rest.

"Why are we so sure it's a he? It could be anyone, even a girl!" Damien asked.

Hermione looked stunned. After a few moments Ginny replied.

"You're right. I don't know why I just assumed it was a male. Great, now literally everyone is a suspect!" she said tiredly.

After Damien's comment, the four kept a close eye on the Gryffindor girls as they were the only females that would have the opportunity to spike the butterbeers.

One evening as Ron, Hermione and Damien sat in their usual spot, waiting for Harry and Ginny to return from their 'alone time', they overheard Parvati and Lavender talking.

Both girls were sitting a few seats away and were talking about Harry and the rumours flying around about him taking up the role as the Dark Prince again.

"How can they be so sure it is him? I mean he's changed now. He killed You-Know-Who for Merlin's sake!" Lavender was saying.

"Well, apparently, Harry didn't actually mean to kill him. It was sort of a misunderstanding or something." At Lavender's puzzled look, the dark haired girl explained. "Look, how many different reports have you read about what happened that day in Hogsmeade? Out of all of them, which one actually details exactly what happened? None of them. It's all pretty vague. But one thing is for certain. Harry made it pretty obvious that he regrets killing him."

Damien was too busy eavesdropping on the conversation to see the other two turn red with suppressed anger.

"Why do you say that?" Lavender asked, oblivious to the extra attention they were getting.

"Think about it! He never gave any public statement explaining his actions in killing You-Know-Who, he never accepted the Merlin's First class honour, he openly hates the Ministry to this day and his reluctance to help them makes it obvious." Parvati replied smugly.

"But that doesn't mean he's gone back to the Dark side. For a start, Harry's always been in Hogwarts at the time of an attack. If he left Hogwarts someone would have known." Lavender said.

Hermione smiled despite herself.

"He's been missing at times. Remember our Minister's visit? I heard Justin say that the Minister only came because he was tipped off about Harry's disappearance. Michael said that he went to the Hospital wing to see if Harry was there and was chased out by Madame Pomfrey. Everyone knows how close Harry is to the school nurse. She could easily be covering for him, making it look like he's in the hospital wing, when he's actually out of Hogwarts."

"I don't think the school nurse would cover for him. I don't care what everyone says, I don't think it's him." Lavender said looking quite worried.

"Oh, I don't either. I was just pointing out all the things that may seem suspicious, to others not me." Parvati added the last part at seeing the look Lavender sent at her.

"I just wish they had some way of proving Harry's innocence. All these rumours are depressing!" Lavender said with a sigh. Damien agreed whole heartedly with her.

The two girls seemed to be thinking up ways to prove Harry was not the Dark Prince.

"The Ministry could put monitoring spells on him. That way there would be a way to track him at all times. If he did leave Hogwarts, they would know instantly." Parvati said.

Lavender was staring at her in shock.

"Are you kidding? That would be awful. That's so degrading. It's an insult to his dignity!" She said in disgust.

The other three exchanged a worried glance. The Ministry better not be thinking along those lines.

"You know, the attacks always happen at night time. They could just tie Harry to his bed at nights." Parvati said jokingly.

"Yeah, that'll help with his dignity." Lavender added sarcastically. Then, smiling slyly, she added, "Although, I wouldn't mind having him tied to my bed."

Both girls dissolved in fits of laughter. Damien gave a look of outrage and turned to glare at the two giggling girls. Hermione and Ron were both looking red in the face and were staring at them in shock. Damien was thankful that Ginny wasn't here. She would have hit the two girls with hexes so hard; they wouldn't leave the hospital wing for weeks.

Just as that thought came to mind, the portrait door swung open to reveal Harry walking in with Ginny, holding her hand. The two giggling girls stopped and gave Ginny an odd cold look, before turning to smile flirtingly at Harry.

Harry, as usual didn't notice them.

"Hey, guys. What's wrong?" Harry asked at seeing the flushed faces.

"Nothing." All three responded without looking at him.

Harry shrugged before sitting down with Ginny, oblivious to the stares he was getting by the two smirking girls sitting behind him.

xxx

"This isn't working! We have to come up with another plan." Damien said as he threw the glass orb away from himself in annoyance. It had now been ten days since they planted the glass orbs and they were yet to catch someone spiking the drinks.

"We just have to do this patiently. We'll catch the traitor, we will." Hermione consoled him.

Just at that point, Ron came rushing into Damien's dormitory. They had decided to check the orbs in there as it was the safest. If they checked it in Ron's dorm there was a good chance Harry might come in unexpectedly. Also, they still were suspicious of Neville. The girls couldn't check in their dorm since Damien and Ron wouldn't be able to go in there.

"Ron, what's the matter?" Hermione asked as he came belting through the door, his face as red as his hair.

"I told you! I told you it was that scum Malfoy! I was right. It is him! He's the one trying to hurt Harry!" he said in a fast scurry of words.

"What!?! How did you find out it's him?" Damien asked, his heart pounding at his insides at the thought.

"I heard him talking to those two goons he calls friends! Crabbe and Goyle! He was telling them that he's going to make Harry pay for what he did to Voldemort. I heard him with my own ears! It's him. Hermione, I told you it was him but you wanted proof! Well, there you have it!" Ron said dramatically.

Hermione was lost in thoughts for a moment. She looked at Ron and seemed to be examining his words.

"That doesn't prove anything, Ron. He could just be making the usual big talk. Malfoy has always made brave claims and don't forget, he's supposed to be Harry's enemy in front of the other Slytherins. Maybe he was just showing off."

"Hermione! Wake up! This is Malfoy we are talking about. Don't you remember what he was like? Always scheming a way to make trouble for us and the rest for the school. This wasn't just big talk. He's planning something. Something that will hurt Harry!"

"Then we'll be ready. We'll watch Harry all day and won't let him out of our sight for even a moment." She promised. At seeing Ron's disappointed face she added gently. "I know you think it's Malfoy but we don't have any proof yet. Until we catch him in the act, we can't talk to Harry about him. He's his friend and won't want to hear anything against him. So until we have concrete proof of Malfoy's betrayal, we can't say anything to Harry."

Ron nodded his head in forced agreement.

The rest of the day, Harry was constantly in company of the four. At first he didn't seem to notice, but when Ron and Damien followed him into the bathroom for the second time that day he finally yelled at them.

"What is up with you today? Lately, you guys disappear on me at random times in the day and today you're not even leaving me to go to the toilet in peace!"

Ron and Damien just looked at him sheepishly and backed out quickly. By the end of the day, the stress was getting to all of them. They were hoping Harry would retire to bed so that they could rest as well. Unfortunately, Harry was showing no signs of going to bed.

Soon it was only the five left in the common room. Ron was about to fall asleep still sitting up in his chair. He jerked awake and looked disgruntled at Harry.

"I'm going to bed." He announced getting up from his chair. The rest got up, hoping Harry would follow their lead. But Harry stayed seated in his chair, reading his book.

"Coming, Harry?"

Harry looked up from his book.

"You guys go. I'm waiting for Draco."

All the sleep vanished from Ron's eyes. He stared at Harry, trying to form intelligent words. Nothing was coming out. He was saved from saying anything as at that moment the portrait door swung open and Draco clambered inside.

The first few moments were tense as Ron glared at Draco and Draco in return glared at all of them, save for Harry.

"Where, where are you going?" Damien asked Harry, feeling panic engulf him.

"Just out." Harry said, getting out of his chair and heading towards the Slytherin, happily ignorant of the tension in the room.

The four shared panicked looks. They had spent the whole day not letting Harry out of their sight and now he was leaving with the person they suspected the most.

"We have to say something." Hermione whispered urgently to them, staring at the two boys, standing near the door. Harry and Draco seemed to be having a whispered conversation themselves.

"What do we say? We can't tell Harry not to go and it's not like we can ask to go with them." Damien said, shooting nervous glances at them.

"…here, take this before I forget."

The four turned their heads to look as they heard Draco speaking.

They saw the bottle Draco pulled out of his robes and hand over to Harry.

"Thanks." Harry said and took the bottle of firewhiskey. Before their eyes, Harry opened the bottle and brought it to his lips.

Panic erupted around the room as Hermione pulled out her wand and Ron tore his way across the room. He ran across the length of the room while Hermione's disarming spell knocked the bottle out of Harry's hand before he had a chance to drink from it. The bottle went flying out of his hands. Harry turned to yell at the others, startled at what had happened but his words were lost in mid sentence as Ron grabbed Draco and aimed a heavy punch straight at him, catching him in the jaw.

"Ron!"

Hermione yelled as Draco's head snapped back from the force of the punch. The Slytherin stumbled back a few steps, caught off by the sudden attack. Ron moved to punch him again, not satisfied with the one punch but stopped as Harry blocked him. There was a strange sort of fire in Harry's eyes. Everyone in the room froze at the spot. Damien, Ginny and Hermione were standing behind Ron who still had his fist raised in the air. Draco was standing behind Harry, glaring hatefully at Ron, his wand clutched his hand. He would have used it on Ron if Harry hadn't been standing between them.

"What the hell, Weasley!" Draco spat at him recovering from the assault.

Ron was breathing hard, his hands shaking with anger.

"You're the one who should be doing the explaining!" he spat right back at him.

"Ron, calm down!" Hermione pleaded from behind him.

"Calm down? How can you tell me to calm down after what he was about to do?" Ron asked turning to glare at Hermione.

"Do what? What did I do?" Draco asked angrily.

"What's going on, Ron?" Harry asked angrily.

Ron turned to him, his eyes burning fiercely. He could see that Harry was furious with him. He had attacked Draco. Harry had always protected Draco, similarly to how he protected Damien. That thought only made Ron angrier with the blond haired boy. How could he betray Harry like that?

"He's been drugging you." Ron said, pointing a shaky finger at Draco.

"What!?!" Draco yelled, looking both shocked and furious.

"Ron, please. We have to explain properly…" Hermione started but was cut off.

"Explain what? It's clear for everyone to see. He must have known that we found out about the butterbeers so he tried to give Harry the next dose in this firewhiskey!" Ron gestured to the upturned bottle.

Damien picked up the bottle and was thankful to see that there were still a few drops left in the bottle. They were going to need them.

"What are you talking about!?! Give the next dose of what? What about the butterbeers? I have no clue what you're talking about!" Draco yelled.

"Draco, we know about the butterbeers. We found them last week. You've been drugging Harry with Sedare Potion using the butterbeers haven't you? You've been helping the Dark Prince." Hermione asked quietly.

Draco looked from one to the other, his grey eyes darting from Harry to the rest.

"That's…that's rubbish! I would never…Harry, you know I wouldn't…!" he pleaded desperately, looking paler than usual.

"I didn't want to believe it was you. I thought you were Harry's friend. But you've been hurting him. You're the reason Harry got addicted! Why did you do it, Draco? Was it to get revenge?" Hermione asked again.

Draco looked at Harry, desperation in his voice.

"Harry! I have no idea what she's talking about. I swear!"

"Give it up, Draco. You've been caught!" Ron said acidly.

"Caught doing what?" Draco yelled. His pale face twisted in anger and frustration

"You somehow found out that we discovered the butterbeers so you decided to give Harry a different drink. To give him another dose of Sedare potion so he gets sick again!" Ron said, curling his fists in anger.

"Shut up, Weasley! You're talking crap!" Draco yelled, his wand still in his hand but forgotten about.

"Harry, he's been helping the Dark Prince plan out attacks. That's why you were having memory lapses. It was because of the Sedare potion you were unknowingly drinking. That was what was making you sick, it was weakening you. We wanted to tell you last week but we wanted to find out who was betraying you. We found out it was Draco after all." Hermione explained.

Harry didn't say anything. His emerald gaze swept around the four before him. He hadn't spoken a word. His jaw was clenched tight, fists curled into balls. His silent anger was perhaps more frightening than the sight of him hexing.

Damien could feel himself breaking into a cold sweat. He had never seen Harry look so angry. He suddenly wished he had not listened to Ron and Hermione and had sided with Ginny on this one. Not telling Harry about the Sedare Potion had been a mistake and Damien could just tell, they were going to pay just as much as Draco. He could tell that it was costing Harry everything he had not to reach for his wand and blast the whole lot of them.

"Harry? Harry, you don't believe them, do you? You know I wouldn't do something like that." Draco asked again, his voice breaking, either from fear or hurt. Damien wasn't sure which at this point.

Hermione noticed the bottle in Damien's hand and quickly took it from him.

"We'll just prove the facts once in for all, shall we?" she said.

She took the black book from Damien and opened it. She poured what remained of the firewhiskey onto the book. Everyone watched as the liquid swirled around the bowl and disappeared. Harry was watching the book as was a pale faced Draco. The writing started appearing and listing all the ingredients that were in the firewhiskey. Damien waited for 'Sedare potion' to appear.

It didn't.

The smirk slipped from Ron's face. He grabbed the book from Hermione and stared at the writing. It had to be there! Draco had to be the one drugging Harry. It had to be him. But no matter how hard he stared or how much he willed it, Sedare potion didn't appear on the page.

Slowly, he lowered the book and looked at Harry and Draco, an expression of guilt and fear on his face.

"I don't understand! The firewhiskey? Why did you bring the firewhiskey if you hadn't spiked it?" Ron asked.

The colour that had drained from Draco's face came back in a sudden rush.

"I brought Harry the firewhiskey because he asked me to! I sneaked to Hogsmeade yesterday and I bought this for Harry!" Draco told him through clenched teeth.

Ron looked absolutely mortified. He was staring at Draco with his mouth hanging open.

"But, I heard you saying to Goyle that you were planning on making Harry pay. What was that all about?" Ron asked, confused at what was happening.

"I was just making the usual Slytherin threats. Harry knows about them. I have to act like that. It's necessary for survival in Slytherin." Draco told him resentfully.

Ron looked at Harry with fear, horrified at his mistake. He had seen the firewhiskey being handed to Harry by Draco and just assumed it was spiked. He had blurted out everything about the butterbeers and the Sedare potion. Now Harry knew that such a big thing was being kept from him.

That was why Harry had not spoken a word. He knew the firewhiskey was fine since he asked Draco to bring it. He hadn't doubted Draco, not even for a second. That was why he was still standing before him, protecting him. His icy stare was fixed on the four before him. The four people that knew about the Sedare potion being mixed in his drinks but hadn't said anything to him about it. If looks could kill, the four would have been dead by now.

Draco wanted to give back what he got from Ron. He moved towards him, his confidence back now that it was proven he had nothing to do with spiking Harry's drinks.

"How could you blame me for such a thing? You think I could actually stoop so low as to do something like that!"

He raised his wand to hex the daylights out of Ron but stopped as a hand gripped his. He saw Harry holding onto him.

"Go, Draco." He instructed quietly.

"But…"

"Just go." Harry repeated.

Draco could see the effort it was costing Harry to speak. That was never a good sign. He threw a smirking look at the four Gryffindors. They were going to get it now. He wished he could stay behind to see what Harry was going to do to them but he wasn't going to get onto Harry's bad side. Not now in any case. He left, hoping Harry did most damage to Ronald Weasley.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

So, who do you think Harry's going to kill first? Kidding! Only kidding! (or am I?) LOL! Please review. Cheers!!


	25. An issue of Trust

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Well, I can see you liked the last chapter! Thanks to all you wonderful, wonderful reviewers! Now this chappie is quite angsty, just thought I should warn you. Enjoy!

**Chapter Twenty Five**

The portrait door slammed shut after Draco, the sound echoing in the room. Damien watched in dread as Harry turned to face him. A fierce glare directed at all of them. Usually Harry's glares didn't affect him but today it sent a shiver of fear through him.

"Harry, mate, I'm…" Ron started but was cut off as Harry raised his hand to silence him.

"You knew?" he asked simply.

Damien shuddered as the anger and hurt in the voice made his hair stand on end.

"We…we were going to tell you…" Hermione started to explain.

"When? When were you planning on telling me?" Harry asked, the words coming out from between clenched teeth. Hermione ducked her head in shame. With great effort she looked up and met Harry's eyes. She tried explaining again.

"We knew you were going to be angry but…"

"But you decided to keep it from me anyway!" Harry finished for her.

Harry took a step towards them, fists clenched tight at his sides. All four took a subconscious step back, away from Harry. Every eye was fixed on Harry, ready to throw themselves out of the way if Harry chose to attack.

But Harry only stood before them, demanding an explanation. Hermione did most of the talking with Ron jumping in at certain points. Damien and Ginny were standing quietly. They didn't utter a single word. Damien didn't think he had the ability to speak through the large lump at the back of his throat. His eyes were fixed on Harry's face, growing more concerned as Ron and Hermione's explanation was making him angrier. He wished they would stop talking.

"…so we thought once we catch the person responsible, we would tell you everything so you could deal with them." Hermione finished breathlessly.

For a moment Harry didn't speak, he didn't move at all. For a fleeting second, Damien thought that maybe Harry was going to forgive them, that he would understand their motive. They weren't being secretive to hurt him. They were only trying to help. But his thoughts and silent prayers were shattered as Harry looked at them with nothing but fury.

"At what point, in my drugged stupor, did I hand over the rights to my life to you!" he asked angrily, directing the question at Hermione.

"You…you didn't. I…we were only trying to…to help…" Hermione started in a trembling voice.

"Help? How is this helpful? You lied to me, kept the fact hidden that someone was trying to hurt me, sat there and watched as I suffered and thought that I was the one doing the attacks and on top of all that, you had the audacity to blame Draco!"

Hermione looked pointedly at Ron as Draco was mentioned but didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry, Harry." She said.

"Save it! Your apologies are worthless!" Harry snapped back.

"Come on, Harry. We're not your enemy. We are your friends. Everything we did was for you." Ron said, speaking up as Hermione had looked away with tears in her eyes.

"I don't think friends are supposed to lie to each other." Harry said with quiet venom.

His eyes darted to Damien and Ginny standing just behind Ron. Both flinched at the cold look. Damien had forgotten just how much those cold looks could hurt.

"And you!" he spat at Damien. "I would have expected my own brother to have cared enough to tell me the truth!"

Damien wanted to say that he did want to tell him the truth. He wanted to say how much he hated keeping this from him. But his voice failed him. His words caught in his throat. He knew it wouldn't matter to Harry. That fact was that he, Harry's own brother, had lied to him and kept such an important thing from him. He had sat back and watched as Harry tore at himself with guilt over the attacks. He could have prevented that if he told Harry what they had found out. But he didn't. He didn't do what his heart and mind told him. Instead he went with what the others said and now was just as much to blame as the rest of them.

Harry looked at Ginny and for the first time since this conversation started, Harry's expression changed from angry to hurt. He stared at Ginny, the one person he had absolute faith in. The one person he had allowed to become close to him. The one person that had stood back and watched him suffer.

He didn't say anything to her. He tore his eyes away, his anger returning almost ten fold. Ginny felt her heart break at the way Harry had looked at her.

"I wanted tell you, Harry. I really did. I never wanted to go along with this!" Ginny said in a quiet voice, desperate for him to understand.

Harry didn't react. He didn't even look at her.

"She's right, Harry. Ginny and Damien both wanted to tell you, but I asked them not to." Hermione said, not wanting Harry to be angry with his brother and girlfriend. It was better if she and Ron took all the heat. In all honesty, it was their idea.

"Since when do they need your permission to tell the truth?" Harry snapped at her.

Harry! I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say!" Hermione said, now with tears running down her cheeks.

"Yeah, we told you, we never meant for you to get hurt. We were actually trying to protect you..." Ron explained.

Ron stopped talking abruptly as Harry's eyes darkened a few shades. The temperature in the room dropped several notches. Damien could feel Goosebumps erupt all over him. Harry had never looked at them with so much hatred.

"I don't need anyone to protect me!" he hissed at Ron, his eyes dangerously darkening. "I don't need anyone's help or _protection_! I'm not weak!" he spat angrily.

"I know that. I only meant…" Ron started.

"Shut up, Ron!" Harry interrupted. "I know what you're doing. You're trying to make excuses so you can hide the fact that you lied to me and kept me in the dark!" Harry said, his voice rising with every word.

"No, that's not true!" Hermione said, her cheeks wet with tears now.

"You four, above everyone, should know how much I loathe being lied to!" Harry was so angry now, his eyes were a deep dark green and his knuckles were turning white as his fists were clenched tight. He was walking towards them, his eyes pinning the rest to the floor.

"Harry!" Ginny said, fearfully but Harry didn't hear her.

"I never thought you would treat me like this! Keep me in the dark about something this important, something that could have potentially killed me! Do you hate me that much that you would want me dead?"

"No! No, Harry. We don't hate you at all…!" Hermione said, shaking her head.

"Then why did you do it! Why did you lie?" Harry roared with fury.

"Harry, please…" Damien said, truly afraid of his brother. Harry turned to face him, eyes blazing with rage and then, it happened.

Harry's eyes turned black.

The bottomless pit black that they used to turn just before one of Voldemort's Horcruxes were destroyed. It was perhaps instinct more than anything that saved them. All four saw his eyes changing and knew what was about to happen. They screamed and ducked as the windows behind them shattered with a mighty explosion. The shattered glass rained down on them, cutting their hands and arms as they covered their heads.

Trembling from head to foot, Damien cautiously brought his hands away from his head, wincing as he felt the cuts sting. He saw the others do the same. He couldn't believe what had just happened. His hand found his wand and he was midway pulling it out of his pocket before he realised what he was doing. He looked up to see Harry still standing where he was.

His eyes had returned to their normal colour, but the intense green was no more comforting than the black. He glared coldly at them, showing no remorse for what he had done. There were still glass shards in their hair and their hands and arms were bleeding from small cuts.

The sound of the glass shattering had woken up the whole of Gryffindor. The sixth and seventh year students came running downstairs, clutching their wands, thinking there had been some sort of attack. What they found was four Gryffindors, sitting on the ground, broken glass surrounding them, with Harry standing before them, offering them no help whatsoever.

"Blimey! What's going on?" Dean asked, as he came to stand at the bottom of the stairs.

He took an involuntary step back as he saw the look on Harry's face. Suddenly the common room was filled with a deathly silence. It became quite clear what had happened. The way Harry was looking at the four made it crystal clear who had caused the windows to shatter.

Before anyone could say anything, the portrait door opened and Professor McGonagall came running inside, holding her wand. She took one look at the scene before her and her face suddenly drained of colour. She saw the four teens at the far end of the room, the windows smashed and glass everywhere. She noticed at once that Damien was hurt, blood was leaking out from his hands and arms. Glass glittered in his hair. Ron, Hermione and Ginny were in a similar state. There were quite a few students standing at the stairs, watching everything closely.

"What…what is going on here!?" she demanded.

Ron had helped Hermione and Ginny to stand up. Damien scrambled painfully to his feet as well. Every eye was on Harry, watching him, waiting for him to offer some sort of explanation. But Harry didn't say anything. Instead he turned and walked towards the door. Before he could reach the door, Professor McGonagall stood in his way, blocking him.

"Move" he hissed venomously.

Professor McGonagall wasn't someone who scared easy but at hearing the cold voice, she visibly bristled. She regained herself almost instantly.

"Mr Potter, I assume this is your doing?" she asked, raising hand towards the broken windows.

Harry didn't answer. Damien was praying hard that Harry didn't do anything to her. He watched in numbed fear as Professor McGonagall refused to move out of Harry's way. The upper years stood watching the strange and frightening scene before them.

Harry raised his hand, undoubtedly to blast her out of the way.

"Harry! No!" Damien yelled.

Harry ignored the yell. His silent wandless spell was deflected by McGonagall. She knew exactly what he was intending to do. His green eyes stared at his Head of House in unadulterated fury. She was staring at him just as forcefully, her wand pointing at his chest threateningly.

McGonagall suddenly noticed the large group of students standing at the stairs staring at them.

"Everyone! Upstairs and back to your dorms at once!" she ordered, her wand still carefully aimed at Harry's chest.

They didn't need telling twice, not from an irate McGonagall brandishing a wand. They hurried upstairs.

"Professor McGonagall, it isn't how…" Ginny started but was cut off by McGonagall.

"I think everyone should head to my office." She pointed her wand so close to Harry's chest that it touched the robes he was wearing. "You first, Mr Potter." She said coldly.

xxx

The four Gryffindors found themselves sitting in Professor McGonagall's office. It was now, two in the morning. There were still small shards of glass embedded in their hands and arms. Ron and Hermione even had a few in the back of their shoulders. They didn't seem bothered by that just now though. All four were sitting in front of their Head of House, trying to find the courage to explain what had happened. Harry was standing before the Professor. She had tried to get him to sit in one of the chairs but Harry had refused, even with her wand pointing at him.

Before anyone could say anything, the doors to her office opened and James and Lily rushed inside, looking extremely angry.

"What's going on, Minerva?" James asked as he saw the scene before him.

"I was just about to ask your son the same question." She answered.

James and Lily looked at Harry, who by now had his usual indifferent mask in place.

"Harry?" Lily asked, coming towards him. She stopped as she saw the injuries on the other four. "Merlin! What happened? Damien, you're hurt! What's going on?" she asked.

McGonagall quietly explained what happened when she entered the common room. Her alarm had gone off alerting her that something had happened in the Gryffindor common room. Being the Head of that house, she headed straight away to see what had caused the alarm to go off. She explained what she found and how Harry had tried to use a spell against her. James and Lily were speechless. They stared at Harry in disbelief.

Meanwhile the four Gryffindors felt the situation whirl out of control. They had to explain what had really happened. Why Harry did what he did. There was no way they were going to let Harry take the blame for this.

As soon as Professor McGonagall finished, Hermione jumped in, before James and Lily could start on Harry.

"Professor McGonagall, we have to explain something to you." She said in a shaky voice. Everyone turned their attention to her, except Harry. He got up at once and moved towards the door.

James blocked him and was about to grab a hold of him to prevent him from leaving but suddenly stopped. He stared at Harry's face before stepping aside to let him leave. Harry tore open the door and left.

"James?" Lily turned to him, bewildered at why he would let Harry leave. Something in James' expression made her stop. He looked shaken. Like whatever he had seen had deeply affected him. He stared at Damien.

"What happened?" he asked breathlessly. "What did you do?" he asked Damien with a look on his face that showed that somehow, Harry had managed to tell him with one look what had happened tonight.

Damien didn't know how to explain. He let Hermione do it. With tears running down her cheeks, Hermione told them what had happened. She didn't hide anything. She told them about the Sedare potion, what they did when they discovered it. How they kept it from Harry and everyone else. All four explained that what happened when Harry found out.

Professor McGonagall sat stunned into silence. Her lips thinned as she heard about how someone was drugging Harry and how the four had handled the situation. After the explanations were finished, they sat quietly, waiting for the shouting to start. Damien couldn't bear to look at his parents. It was at least five minutes before the Transfiguration Professor said anything.

"From all the things I have heard at my years at Hogwarts, I have never heard of anyone acting as idiotically as you four!"

The four had their heads ducked in shame.

"Why in Merlin's name, did you not alert anyone of authority that someone was threatening Mr Potter? How could you have not alerted Professors' Potter at least? They should have been told the minute you found out!" she continued.

The four teens had no answer to her questions. They sat in silence, heads bowed and accepting her harsh words. Damien chanced a look at his parents. Both had gone rather pale. They were looking at the ground, as if afraid of looking at the teens in case they lost their calm. Without saying a single word to them, both parents left the room, obviously going to find Harry.

Damien looked miserably at his own bloody hands. He didn't want to think about what it was going to be like, facing his family again. What could he say to make things better?

After McGonagall finished berating them she sent them to the hospital wing to attend to their minor wounds.

"You are lucky! Your injuries could have been much worse!" she told them as they left.

'It couldn't possibly be worse!' Damien thought to himself as he walked alongside the others. He wasn't thinking about their physical injuries, but about the emotional damage done to Harry.

xxx

Madame Pomfrey looked bewildered when she received four patients in the early hours of the morning, but she didn't say anything. She attended to their wounds, raising her eyebrows at the sight of the cut hands and arms but she didn't ask any questions. Damien was glad. He didn't want to tell her what they had done.

"I never thought I would see you in my wing?" she said to Damien, as she closed up the cuts on his hands. Damien jerked his head up to meet her eyes.

"What?" he said caught off guard.

"I thought no student would ever dare hurt you. They would be too afraid of Harry." She said, with a look on her face that could be described as pride.

Damien felt the sharp sting of tears assault him. He looked away from the school nurse, blinking away the tears. She was right. Harry was very protective of him and everyone knew it. No one would ever dare try and hurt Damien. They knew Harry wouldn't stand for it. Damien felt himself sink deeper into self-loathing and shame. How could he mistreat Harry like that? How could he lie to him and keep him in the dark? How could he willingly hurt him when all Harry ever did was look out for him, protect him.

Damien reached for the Layhoo Jisteen that was still around his neck. He pulled out the pendant and looked at the black stone, watched as the green mist swirled around inside it. The green mist that was supposed to have killed him. The killing curse that Voldemort had sent at him had been engulfed by the stone, by this pendant. The pendant that Harry had literally risked his life to come and give to him. Damien would never forget the way Harry had been tortured, the anger Voldemort had shown at the revelation that Harry had bound the pendant to Damien.

He finally broke down and cried. Letting the tears come fast now that he allowed them. He was an awful brother. He had played with Harry's trust. Why had he listened to the rest? He shouldn't have done what they wanted. Harry hadn't listened to Voldemort. If he had, he would never have given the pendant to Damien. Harry had risked everything to help Damien and what did he do in return? He sat back and let Harry be hurt.

Poppy was staring at the sobbing boy with concern. What happened? She tried to comfort him as best she could but nothing she said or did made any difference. She stepped aside as Hermione and Ginny, followed by Ron came over and hugged him, whispering words in his ears. Poppy wondered what was going on. She turned to get a calming draught for the boy when she noticed the door open and two people enter the wing.

Damien looked up as the doors to the hospital wing opened. His sobs caught in his throat as he saw his mum and dad. Both were looking livid.

Hermione and Ron both stepped away to allow James and Lily to approach Damien. Ginny kept a tight grip on his hand, watching the two parents walk briskly towards them. As soon as James and Lily approached the bed their expressions softened. Their son's tear soaked face melted through their anger. Damien couldn't find anything to say. He looked ashamedly at his parents. Lily couldn't take it any longer and stepped forward, taking Damien into her arms and hugging him tightly. Damien couldn't stop the tears now.

He felt James put a hand on his back, wordlessly comforting him. He looked up at them.

"I'm so sorry." He managed to say between sobs.

"Shh, we'll talk about it later." Lily said rubbing his back. Although her words were spoken softly, Damien could hear the anger and disappointment in her voice. Both she and his dad were very angry with him.

Damien quietened down, willing back his tears. He didn't know why he couldn't stop his tears. He felt very childish and stupid, sitting there on the bed, crying in his mothers arms. It was his fault. All of this was his doing, then why was he getting his parents sympathy? He pulled away from his mum and rubbed away his tears.

"Come on." Lily said gently, urging Damien to stand up.

As soon as he was on his feet, James started walking towards the door. He saw the other three standing awkwardly in the room. James had to push down his anger at them as he walked past them. He didn't want to say anything to them. He knew he would regret it if he did.

They left the hospital wing, leaving the other three with a confused nurse. Damien walked in silence, his feet feeling oddly heavy and difficult to move. His mind was buzzing with all that had happened. Resisting the urge to cry, Damien pushed back his tears and continued walking along the deserted corridors.

He was surprised when he found himself before the portrait of the Fat Lady. He looked at his parents. He thought he was heading for their quarters for a long and uncomfortable talk.

"Go to bed, Damy. We'll talk in the morning." Lily explained.

"Harry? Did you…did you find him?" he asked in a low voice.

"Yes, we did. Now go to bed." Lily said just as quietly.

He went inside, not daring to look at the still broken windows on his way upstairs.

xxx

Damien couldn't sleep. All night he tossed and turned. The disastrous events of the night replayed again and again in his mind. He had never thought things would get so bad. He knew Harry would be mad. He knew he would yell and scream at them. But never had he thought he would be that furious with them. He tried to forget the way Harry had looked at him. The way his eyes had conveyed his rage and hurt. He had looked at all of them with nothing other than plain hatred. That was perhaps the hardest thing to accept, that Harry, right now, hated all of them.

His mum and dad were furious as well. They had not said anything to him yet. They had escorted him to his dorm, telling him to sleep and that they would speak to him later. They refused to say anything more. Damien knew that they only took pity on him because he had been crying. They would have felt guilty about berating him when he was already in tears.

He finally gave up on sleep and got up. He knew the morning was going to bring more misery. The entire Gryffindor upper years knew about the windows smashing and the four of them sitting in the midst of broken glass, their hands and arms covered with cuts. What happened between Harry and Professor McGonagall was surely going to spread throughout the castle. By mid morning tomorrow, the whole school would find out what had happened. They had completely messed up. Whoever the traitor was, he was going to find out that Harry knew about the Sedare potion. They had lost. Now there was no way of finding out whom the traitor was.

Damien walked into the common room, wrapping his arms around himself to stop shivering. He stopped short when he saw Ginny sitting next to the repaired window, staring out at the grounds. So he wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep. He knew that Ron and Hermione were probably awake as well, lying in their beds thinking over the events of tonight.

Damien walked further into the common room bringing Ginny out of her daze. She looked around at him, her face drained of all colour. Damien sat down next to her, not really knowing what to say. He knew what Ginny must be feeling. She didn't want to hide anything from Harry. She had objected from the beginning but no one had listened to her. Now, she had lost Harry. He had been so angry with her, Damien shuddered as he remembered the cold angry look he had directed at her.

"I can't believe this happened."

Damien didn't look at her. He nodded his head slowly.

"I know." He whispered.

"It won't be the same again, will it?" she asked in a quiet voice.

Damien didn't answer. He didn't have to, from the sound of Ginny's voice, she knew the answer. They both did. They had abused Harry's trust. He would never be the same with them. Things would never be the same again.

xxx

Damien couldn't remember when he had last felt so awful. He was trying hard to think of something to say, to answer his parents angry questions. He couldn't think of anything that he could say that would appease them. His dad was doing most of the talking.

"Aren't you going to say something?" he asked him angrily.

"I don't know what to say? I can only apologise." Damien replied glumly.

"That doesn't answer our questions!" he answered sternly.

Lily looked at them both grimly. She couldn't remember ever being this angry and ashamed of Damien.

"What were you thinking!?" she asked.

"I…we thought…" he trailed off, now realising as he was trying to form the words, how utterly stupid their plan was. "I'm sorry."

"Stop apologising, Damien. At least to us anyway. Harry is the one you should say sorry to!" James said, thinking along the same lines himself. He had acted quite horridly with him regarding the addiction issue. His temper flared again at the thought of someone deliberately poisoning his son.

He had found Harry and had brought him to their living quarters last night. They had not bothered him with questions. He had gone straight to the bed that James had transfigured from the sofa. Harry was shaking, whether still from anger or from exhaustion, no one really knew. He had woken up before them this morning and had left the quarters before James and Lily could speak to him. It was probably just as well. Harry wasn't ready to speak to Damien just yet.

"I had never expected this of you! What possessed you to keep this from us?" Lily asked.

"I don't know." Damien answered plainly. It was the truth.

"I told you quite clearly that if you ever learned anything that affected Harry's health, you were to come and tell me. Do you remember that?" James asked.

Damien could only nod his head. He remembered that day well. It was after Harry's trial. The only thing he could do was apologise again.

"I told you to stop apologising." James told him again.

"Is, is Harry okay now?" Damien asked hesitantly.

James let out a tired sigh and sat down next to him.

"I don't know to be perfectly honest. He didn't talk to me."

Damien felt his face burn in shame. This was all his fault. He had never thought things would get this bad. James saw the way his son's face fell and couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He was still angry with him but that didn't stop him from feeling sympathetic. He wrapped an arm around him and gave him a tight squeeze.

"He'll be okay, give him time. I don't want you or the others to go anywhere near him." His eyes lingered on the Damien's hands. The cuts were healed and there was hardly any scarring but James knew that they were lucky to have escaped with minor injuries. That glass could have done much more damage.

"Dad, is Harry going to get in trouble for last night?" that question had been worrying him all night.

"He's talking to Dumbledore just now. I think exceptions will be made as I don't think Harry really meant to do…what he did." James said uncomfortably. "As for his behaviour with McGonagall, I don't think he'll get away with that. She'll make sure of that."

Damien nodded his head, he knew his Head of House very well. She would definitely make sure Harry was punished for attacking her. Lily sat down on the other side to Damien, looking at him sternly.

"That brings us to the point of your punishment. Headmaster Dumbledore has already written to Hermione and Ron's parents. They will be told exactly what they did." Damien grimaced. They could expect a howler from Mrs Weasley any day now. He didn't know how Hermione's parents were going to react. "Minerva spoke to me earlier on today. She will arrange your punishments as well." At Damien's outraged look she added. "Count yourself lucky she's arranging the detentions. If it were left to me you would be not so well off!" Damien believed her.

"I want you to go now, and if you see Harry, don't talk to him. He'll want to cool off for a few days." James reminded him.

Damien left the quarters feeling slightly better. At least he had dealt with his parents. They had been really mad with him but at least he had it over and done with. He didn't have to evade them anymore. He didn't know how he was supposed to avoid talking to Harry. That was going to be strange, not talk to Harry or spend time with him. He reminded himself that he had lived for thirteen years without Harry but ever since he met his brother, he couldn't think of living without him in his life.

He was still thinking about this when he saw the stone gargoyle leading up to the Headmaster's office move. Damien froze in his steps. He knew who was coming down the steps but he still couldn't move out of the way. He watched with a frantically beating heart as Harry appeared, looking like he hadn't slept a single wink last night. Their eyes met and for a fleeting second he thought Harry was going to call out to him. But he didn't. He merely threw him a disgusted look before turning and walking away, not looking back at him even once.

Damien had expected this type of behaviour but he hadn't prepared for it. He stood where he was, watching Harry walk away from him. Nothing in his life had been more painful to watch.

xxx

Life didn't get any better for Damien and the other three. They got their detentions from McGonagall and found themselves in the company of Flich for the next month. Five nights a week they were helping him with various revolting jobs of cleaning the castle. But they didn't complain. They deserved much more, they knew that.

Ron and Ginny both got an ear bashing from the expected howler from Mrs Weasley which made both turn scarlet. She promised them a personal visit as soon as she could manage it. That was definitely not something to look forward to. Hermione received a letter from her parents instructing her to write a letter explaining exactly what had happened.

But worse that all that for the four Gryffindors was the way Harry was treating them. He ignored them completely. He refused to stay in the same dorm as Ron, and as the traitor was still unknown it was unsafe for him to move into another dorm. Professor Dumbledore agreed to let Harry share James' private quarter. There was enough room and the bed transfigured from the sofa was comfortable enough. Harry wasn't going to be doing much sleeping in any case so that didn't bother him. He stayed out in the living room as James slept in his room. Harry sat with the other Gryffindors at meal times and chose to not even look in Damien's direction. When he was in class, Harry sat with Dean and Seamus instead of Ron and Hermione.

The school soon learnt the contents of the night Harry smashed all the windows in the common room. Thankfully, no one learnt the reason why, all they knew was that Harry was now not on speaking terms with Damien, Ginny, Ron and Hermione. No one had the courage to come out and ask Harry why. They happily accepted him sitting with them at meal times and classes. When anyone asked Damien and the others why Harry was angry with them and why he had hurt them, they told them simply to 'mind their own freaking business!' it was perhaps the only good thing in the whole mess. The truth of the butterbeers and the Sedare potion was unknown.

James didn't have as much luck with Harry as he had hoped. He caught him the first night he came to sleep in his quarter. But no matter how much he pushed, Harry closed up and was determined not to talk about Damien and the others. James had to finally give up but he was there with Harry, making sure that if Harry wanted to talk, he was right there.

James and Lily had numerous meetings with Dumbledore and Minerva, trying to figure out what they could do to catch the person responsible for drugging Harry. So far, they had nothing. The very idea that a student, let alone a Gryffindor, could do something like this was hard to come to terms with.

"Isn't there anyway of catching the person responsible?" Lily asked at one such meeting.

"I'm afraid that there isn't much in the ways of determining who this person is. All we can do is wait for them to make a mistake and reveal themselves." Minerva said quietly.

While Minerva had a soft spot for James and Lily, both being ex students of hers and fellow Order members, she had very little patience for their son, Harry. Part of the reason was his attitude towards her. When she met him after the night he had tried to blast her away from the door, she had expected him to at least apologise. She understood that he was going through extreme emotional abuse at the time but still, that was no way to act with a teacher. Lily had tried to make him apologise.

"Don't you have something to say to Minerva?" she prompted him.

Harry had looked at Minerva coldly before saying,

"Next time I tell you to move, you're better off just doing it."

Needless to say he had landed himself a month's detention, picking herbs from the forbidden forest at night since the plants were sensitive to light, not to mention dangerous. Harry didn't show any emotion to the punishment but did it without complaint.

It had been two weeks since his detention and Harry was sitting in his dad's living room, trying to apply the salve on his bleeding fingers. The damn flowers had teeth and kept on biting him as he tried to pick them up. It was part of his detention. He didn't care though. Nothing really mattered anymore. He only applied the salve to stop his mum and dad from seeing his injuries and making a huge deal about it. He couldn't put up with it anymore. Harry couldn't bring himself to care. He had already convinced himself that it didn't matter. He wasn't going to pretend to himself that anyone cared. They were all lying to him. Just like Ron and Hermione had lied, just like Ginny, like Damien, like Lucius and Bella and Voldemort. Harry wasn't going to believe anyone from now on. He was on his own, just like he always knew he was. His parents would mess up at some point and hurt him. It was best if he just stayed away from them, all of them.

Harry would have left Hogwarts all together if he didn't already know that it was pointless. With the Dark Prince attacking and his disappearance, it would only be a matter of time before the Ministry declared him the killer and sent the wizarding world out looking for his blood, again. Harry knew he could hide, but he didn't think he could deal with all that again. That was partly why he had stopped himself from disapparating from the common room, in front of McGonagall and the other students. It would do him no good to show he was resistant to the powerful wards surrounding Hogwarts.

He was lost in his thoughts and didn't hear the knock on the door. He looked up as a familiar voice called out, "Professor Potter, sir?"

Harry watched as the red haired girl opened the door and walked inside, her brown eyes searching the desk for James. She looked slightly disappointed but then stopped dead in her tracks as her eyes scanned the room and fell on Harry.

"Hi" she said hesitantly.

Harry didn't reply.

"I…I was looking for your dad." She went on, coming further into the room. Harry took the opportunity to examine her. She had lost some weight. Her eyes had dark circles under them, proving that he wasn't the only one having sleepless nights. She looked like she had just recovered from being ill.

Harry realised he had been staring at her. He quickly looked away. Ginny moved a few more steps inside. She had been observing him, noticing how tired he looked.

"Do you know when he'll be back?" she asked, in reality she didn't care when James returned.

Harry shook his head a fraction. The only response he was going to give. Ginny felt her heart jump. She hadn't heard his voice since that night and that was over two weeks ago. She had hoped that maybe Harry would at least talk to her. But it didn't look likely. She turned to go.

"Okay, if you can let him know that I came by. I had to ask him something about class." She said, staring at Harry. He didn't acknowledge the request.

Just as she turned to leave, she caught a glimpse of Harry's bloodied fingers. Before she could stop herself, she had travelled to the other side of the room, coming to rest next to where Harry was sitting.

"Oh God, Harry! What happened?" she said as she kneeled next to him. Her eyes took in the small painful looking bites on his fingers. She acted on impulse and took his injured hand into hers.

She only realised what she had done when Harry yanked his hand away from hers violently. She looked up at him, hurt at seeing the anger swimming in his green orbs.

"Harry"

"Leave!" he hissed, looking away from her.

Ginny stood up, her eyes fixed on him.

"How long are you planning to stay away from us" She asked him. Harry didn't answer. "Harry, please. I told you how sorry I am. The others are really sorry as well. What do we have to do to show you how sorry we are?" she asked.

Harry looked over at her. He knew she was truly sorry. Unfortunately that didn't matter to him.

"Just go from here." He said it clearly so she could understand him.

"Fine, I'll go. But Harry, you can't hide from us forever. You'll have to talk to us sooner or later." Ginny told him. She was trying hard to walk away but Harry's stubborn resolve not to talk to her was starting to take its toll.

"I'm perfectly happy not talking to you ever again!" Harry said evenly.

Ginny would have ignored his remark if she didn't know that Harry was being deadly serious. A sense of foreboding took a hold of her. She believed that maybe once Harry had cooled down, he would talk to her again.

"You can't ignore me forever." She said. She only meant it as a passing comment not a statement to be argued.

"I can't see why I can't ignore strangers." Harry coldly replied.

"What are you saying?" she asked, her voice deathly quiet. Harry didn't have to say it out loud. Ginny understood him perfectly. "Are you…are you breaking up with me?" she asked him.

"Considering that I can't stand to even look at you, I think that would a good idea!" Harry said, keeping is eyes fixed to the wall before him.

Ginny stood where she was. She couldn't move. His words crashed around her like waves crashed around rocks. Harry was breaking up with her. Ginny knew he was angry, she knew he was going to be mad at her for a while. She admitted that it was going to be difficult to gain his trust again, but she hadn't quite realised that Harry may break up with her. In her mind, Harry was always going to be with her.

She turned and fled from there, not wanting to be in the same room anymore. She didn't turn around to look at him. She banged the door open and ran blindly. If she had looked back she would have seen Harry despairingly hide his face behind his bloodied hands.

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Please review!


	26. Friendship

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Hiya! Thanks for all your fab reviews!! This chapter is dedicated to Dilandau-is-My-Boyfriend as she asked me to update before the 21st. I hope you enjoy this chapter and that everything goes well for you. Good Luck! Enjoy everyone!

**Chapter Twenty Six**

"He broke up with you?"

Ginny could only nod her head. Her throat was starting to hurt now because of all the crying. Hermione was sitting next to her, clutching one of her hands in her own, wearing a horrified expression.

"He can't just…I mean it wasn't your fault! You didn't want to lie to him. We made you do it! He should understand that!" she said, tightening the grip on her hand.

Ginny sniffed back her tears. How much more could she cry anyway.

"That doesn't matter to him. All that matters is that I lied to him and now he can't trust me. It makes sense. Why be with someone if you can't trust them?" she said in a dry, hollow voice.

"But Ginny, it's not fair!" Ron added as he looked empathetically at his little sister.

Ginny let out a strangled laugh, it sounded more like a sob.

"Nothing ever is. Look at Harry. What happened to him wasn't fair. Anyone he ever trusted ended up hurting him."

"How can you still defend him? After he blew you off like that?" Damien was the one asking the question.

"I don't blame him. If I was in his shoes, I would probably do the same." Ginny whispered sadly.

They stayed in the common room, talking about Harry and Ginny's break up. It seemed really silly now, that no one had realised this was the inevitable after Harry learned the truth. Hermione felt horridly guilty. She was the one who forced Ginny to lie to Harry and to keep the truth hidden from him. She was the reason Harry broke up with her.

"Ginny, I'm so sorry! I had never thought things would get this bad. I never thought he would break up with you over this. I should have, I see that now. Please forgive me!" she begged, tears springing in her eyes.

"I shouldn't have listened to you. I should have made my own decision to tell Harry everything. It's done now, so there's no point in going over the 'what ifs'. It's over now." She said sadly, willing back the fresh tears that were forcing their way through.

Damien sat with Ginny, trying to think of something to say that would make her feel better. He couldn't think of anything. Everything was falling apart. Harry was still in Hogwarts but it seemed like he was far away from them. He was in front of their eyes but kept his distance. Damien felt like he had gone back in time, back to last year when they had first met Harry. But things were so much worse than last year. At least back then, Damien never knew what it felt like to be close to and loved by Harry.

xxx

The different coloured jets of lights were flying in the air again. Harry watched the scene, just like he had done numerous times before as the Death Eaters and Aurors fought each other with vigour. Harry had had this dream so many times now, he could tell what was going to happen next. He searched the images before him, looking for her. She usually came just before he woke up. Her manic laughter would ring through the air, the image of her removing her mask so the Aurors could see who they were duelling with. Bella would then disappear, lost in a whirlpool of blurred images and colours. Her laughter would stop abruptly before a pained gasp left her. Harry always woke up right after that.

Harry actually liked this dream. He preferred it greatly to the nightmares of watching Voldemort burn and die. Every time he had this dream, he would try and figure out why he was witnessing an event that he himself wasn't a part of. How could he see a memory when it wasn't his? He never got a chance to think about it when he woke up. There was always one thing happening or another to distract him.

Harry watched as Bella emerged from behind the mask, laughing, her eyes shinning with pleasure. She attacked the Aurors with a kind of passion he had never seen in her before. She was really enjoying the duel.

Harry watched her with a breaking heart. He missed Bella so much. He again noticed, as he did every time he had this dream, that she looked different. What it was exactly, Harry couldn't pinpoint but there was something about her that was painstakingly different.

Harry watched in awe as Bella fought of three Aurors and turned to hex another two approaching men. This was when things started getting blurry. Harry tried desperately to concentrate, to try and see what happened next but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't grip onto the images and found them sliding away from him. Everything spun around him, Bella's laughter was cut off, as if someone switched off the volume. Then, in the midst of the spinning colours and blurred images he heard the pained gasp leave her. He knew it was Bella. That gasp had to belong to her. She was the only female there.

"Bella! Bella!" Harry couldn't help himself. He called out to her every time, hoping some day she might call back to him.

A brilliant flash of white and Harry found himself staring into his dad's worried looking face. Harry jumped a little at the sight but relaxed almost instantly. He had woken up in his dad's living quarters. James had obviously heard him talking in his sleep and had come over to see if he was alright. Harry sat up in his bed and looked at James with a guilty expression.

"Sorry" he muttered, diverting his gaze.

"For what?" James asked, genuinely confused.

"For waking you up." Harry said.

"Don't worry about it. I wasn't sleeping. I had a lot of assignments to mark so I was busy with them. I heard you, it sounded like you were having a nightmare, so I…" James trailed off, not sure of what to say.

Harry had been so difficult to judge these last few weeks. James had thought that Harry sleeping in his quarters was a blessing in disguise. He had thought he would be able to look after him and work out their recent problems. But Harry was difficult to get a hold of. He usually left very early in the mornings before James got up, the day was spent in classes and meal times weren't the best times to have heart to heart talks and the evenings were taken over by Harry's detention. That was thankfully finished. James still couldn't believe a month had already passed. He still didn't understand what it was Harry was required to do every night but it tired him out. James had asked Harry after his first day what it was McGonagall asked him to do but Harry only shot him one of his glares in response. Harry would come back from his detention and head straight to the bathroom. He would spend ages in there, James assumed he was having a bath, to soak away the day's aches maybe. By the time he emerged into the living room, it was past midnight and before James could say anything, Harry was heading for his bed thoroughly exhausted.

At least now that his detention was over, James would have more time to talk to him. James knew how awful a time Harry was having. He was still not speaking to Damien and James knew how much that affected both of the boys. They may have only met last year, but they had grown very close and they depended on each other, even if Harry didn't admit to it.

James had learnt that Harry had broken up with Ginny as well. He wasn't going to interfere in his son's personal matters but he knew that Harry missed her. It was one of the rare times Harry had ever looked happy when he was with Ginny. It was a shame Harry broke up with her. He was too stubborn to admit anything though. He wouldn't admit that he was missing Damien or Ginny or even Ron and Hermione.

James realised that he had been staring at Harry, while all these thoughts were running through his mind. He hastily looked away as Harry was looking quite uncomfortable by his unblinking gaze.

James cleared his throat.

"Um, are you okay, now?" he asked, not sure of what else to say.

Harry rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I'm fine!" he answered a little harshly.

James cast around for something to talk about. He wanted to talk about so many things but now wasn't the right time. James wanted to talk about Damien. He needed Harry to stop being so hurtful towards him.

The other day, Damien had tried to talk to him just after dinner and Harry had just pushed him aside, literally. It was embarrassing enough having your friends there to witness something like that, but the entire school was there. James would have said something to Harry right there and then but he wasn't in the hall at the time. He found out about it afterwards from Professor McGonagall.

Damien didn't say a word to him or Lily about it. He just disregarded it but that was hardly the point. That type of behaviour was not acceptable. However, before he could say anything to Harry, the raven haired teen turned to his bed and pulled his covers over his head, obviously hinting to James that he was to be left alone.

Figuring that now wasn't the best time to annoy Harry anyway, James turned back to his desk. Harry had just had a nightmare, it wasn't right to talk to him now. But James was going to talk to Harry about Damien. Just like all the other things he needed to talk to him about.

xxx

Hermione and Ron quickly darted into an empty classroom.

"Hurry up, Hermione!" Ron whispered.

"Okay, calm down. You're so impatient." She reprimanded as she pulled off her bag from around her shoulders.

"You know you'll get in trouble for that!"

She turned at the sound of the voice to see Draco standing at the door, leaning casually against the doorframe. The smirk he usually wore was worn proudly today as he stared at the two Gryffindors.

"Go away, Malfoy!" Hermione said, not in the mood to hear anything the Slytherin had to say.

She finished pulling out the glass orb from her bag. It was midday and the rest were having lunch. She and Ron were planning on checking the orb before grabbing a bite to eat.

Draco's smirk deepened as he saw how his presence annoyed the other two. He walked further into the room, closing the door behind him.

"Can't you understand the meaning of 'Go away!' Malfoy!" Ron hissed at him.

"I think you may want to hold your tongue, before you land yourself in more trouble." Draco replied, looking smug.

The fact the Harry now favoured him over them was immensely satisfying and Draco was going to take any and every opportunity to rub it in their faces. Ron didn't say anything but glared at him.

"Why are you here?" Hermione asked tiredly.

"Well, since you guys pretty much suck at trying to figure things out, I thought I would lend a helping hand." He replied.

Hermione looked at him in shock and disbelief.

"Did I hear you right? You want to help us?" she asked. Ron was staring at him, obviously not believing a word.

"Just tell us the real reason you're here and then get out!" he said to Draco.

The blond raised an eyebrow at him but ignored him and turned to Hermione.

"It's not a case of wanting to help you but more having to help you." He said. He moved closer to them and then fixed them with a hard stare. "You know more about the situation involving Harry and the Sedare Potion. I want you to tell me all you know." He said seriously.

"Why?" Ron asked.

"So I can figure out who it is, idiot!" Draco spat at him, his annoyance coming across now.

"We told Harry everything we knew, didn't he tell you anything?" Hermione asked.

"Well, you see that's the thing. He tends not to remember much when he's in a spitting rage. Everything you told him was probably forgotten when he calmed down." Draco said, enjoying the way Hermione flinched when he mentioned Harry's rage.

"So, he sent you?" Ron asked. Draco glared him as he responded.

"He doesn't need to send me anywhere! I'm his friend not his servant!" with a calmer tone he continued, "He doesn't know I'm here. I had to come since you two royal idiots can't be expected to figure this mystery out by yourselves."

Ron moved towards Draco but Hermione was quick to stop him. She looked at Draco with a measuring stare. Finally she spoke to him.

"Alright, we'll tell you what we know. I'm only telling you this because I know that you're trying to help Harry." Hermione said.

In a quiet voice, she told him everything about how they discovered the Sedare potion in the butterbeers. She told him everything as quietly and as quickly as she could. Lunch would be over soon and she didn't want anyone to catch them in the classroom. When she finished Draco looked at her, a serious look on his pale face.

"How were you planning on catching this 'traitor' then?" he asked.

Hermione held up the small glass orb that she and Ron were supposed to be viewing right now. Draco stared at the glass ball for a moment, looking lost. He met Hermione's eyes and sneered at her.

"A crystal ball? You were planning on gazing into a crystal glass ball to see if you can spot the person spiking the butterbeers? I thought you had more sense than to believe in such things as 'the third eye' and divination!"

"Actually, I was rather hoping to see the person spiking the drinks in this. It's an image recorder." She explained. She couldn't help the smile at Draco's reaction.

"So, did it work?" he asked, eyeing the ball curiously.

"Yes, yes it did, Malfoy. We've seen who it is but we're deciding to just sit around and not do anything about it!" Ron snapped at him.

"I wouldn't be surprised!" Draco snapped right back.

"Alright, alright. There's no pointing fighting. Malfoy, we've been checking the orb every twelve hours, but whoever it is hasn't made any moves. I'm actually wondering if there's any point to this anymore. Harry's hardly ever in the common room now, so I don't know if the butterbeers will be spiked again or not." She said, trying to focus on the problem at hand.

Ron and Draco stopped glaring at each other long enough to pay attention to Hermione.

"So the solution is obvious then." Draco said, still eyeing Hermione rather distastefully.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, ignoring the way Draco was looking at her. Draco let out a frustrated sigh.

"Think about it! If everyone knows Harry doesn't spend time in the common room anymore, then the 'traitor' as you put it, wouldn't have any reason to spike the drinks. You have to try something else. Create a situation in which the person responsible will react and get caught." He explained.

"What rubbish are you talking? What can we do?" Ron asked him.

"Wait! That actually makes sense." Hermione said with a thoughtful look on her face.

"It does?" Ron asked turning to her. He had not understood what Draco had said.

"Yes, Malfoy is right. We have to create such a situation that makes the traitor feel that they have to act. Whoever it is must be getting frustrated that he's not able to get to Harry anymore. He's waiting for the right opportunity and we have to create that opportunity." Hermione had that look on her face, the look that suggested she was scheming something.

Ron looked at Draco and then back at Hermione.

"Err, so what are we going to do?" he asked her. Hermione turned to him, an inane smile on her face.

"We're going to send Harry a 'cheer up' present."

xxx

"Is everything set?"

"Yes"

"Did you make sure that Parvati and Lavender heard you?"

"Yes"

"Are you certain?"

"For the love of God, Hermione, yes!"

"Okay, don't yell, Ronald. I was only making sure."

"Shh! Keep it down you two!" Damien hissed at them. He looked back at the glass orb that was sitting on the table before them. His eyes were glued to it, not wanting to miss anything.

The four Gryffindors were sitting in the Room of Requirement.

Hermione's plan was perfect. Well, sort off. She had arranged a huge basket filled with sweets and drinks and flowers and all sorts of things to be placed in the cabinet in the common room. Ron was talking loudly with Damien at breakfast that he and Hermione were making a peace offering to Harry, to make up with him for the recent arguments.

He told Damien that he was going to take the basket filled with treats to Harry tomorrow. He was going to leave it in the common room so that Ginny, Hermione and Damien could add their own peace offerings to it. He made sure that Parvati and Lavender, the two gossip bags of Gryffindor, heard him. They were sure to deliver this news to everyone in Gryffindor. If the traitor was indeed in Gryffindor, then he or she wouldn't want to waste this opportunity to spike Harry's food or drink. Well, Hermione hoped so anyway.

The four sat watching the glass orb that showed the common room. Hermione had cast complicated spells on one of the orbs so that it would show what the other glass orb was recording. That way they would be able to grab the traitor, as soon as he made himself known.

Hermione was watching the orb nervously. This had to work. It was a good opportunity for the traitor to spike Harry's drink. She was certain it was going to work.

A few hours passed and the glass orb showed the common room emptying slowly as the students headed to their bed. Damien sat watching the glass orb, an expression of anger on his face. He had made himself a quiet promise that he was going to make the person responsible for this pay dearly. Harry was distant from all of them because of this person. Harry had gone through so much, the addiction, the painful withdrawals, the undue guilt, all of this was _his_ fault, the person who was working with the Dark Prince, the traitor in Gryffindor!

Soon it was past midnight and no one had gone near the cabinet. Hermione let out a frustrated sigh. Why wasn't this person making a move! This was a golden opportunity for them. What was wrong?

Ron sighed and stood up. He had to stretch his legs. He had been sitting for too long. Ginny, Damien and Hermione stayed where they were. Each was silently praying for this to work. They had to find out the identity of the traitor. That was the only way Harry was going to forgive them, if they handed the traitor over to him.

"How much longer do you think we should wait?" Ron asked.

"I'm not leaving until we get him." Damien said with a growl.

"We should wait. The common room has just emptied. This is the chance to spike the drinks." Ginny pointed out.

Ron sat back down. They waited and waited but no one showed up. It was now three in the morning. Ron had fallen asleep and Ginny seemed to be dozing off as well. She was trying to keep her eyes open but they were shutting of their own accord. Hermione and Damien were the only two that had managed to fight their sleep and were fully awake.

"He has to come. He just has to." Hermione said in a whisper.

Damien nodded his head to show his agreement.

"Damy, do you think…if we do catch this person and hand them over to Harry, do you think then Harry will forgive us?" she asked.

Damien thought about it for a moment.

"I really don't know, Hermione. He's really mad at us. I think it'll be a long time before he's okay with us."

Hermione's face fell. She wrapped her arms around her knees, hugging them tight.

"I miss him." She said softly. Damien looked over at her and saw the unshed tears in her eyes. "I really miss him. I never realised how much he means to me until now. If I had known my foolishness would result in this I would never have lied to him."

Damien looked away from her. It was hard not to blame Hermione for what happened with Harry but at the same time, he felt sorry for her.

"It wasn't all your fault. We're all to blame." He said softly.

"It's just…I wish he would have understood that I never meant for him to get hurt. I hate that he broke up with Ginny. I feel like it's all my fault! And the way he's been acting towards you, it breaks my heart." She went one, giving Damien an apologetic look.

"Don't worry about it, Hermione." That was all Damien could say. Yes, Harry was being awful to him and it hurt, but that wasn't Hermione fault.

"I can't help it, I just…" Hermione trailed off. Damien looked up to see her looking at the orb before her. Her eyes were slightly popping in surprise and her mouth was still hanging open.

Damien felt his heart leap as he quickly turned to the glass orb, still sitting on the table. He saw a figure, dressed in his pyjamas reaching into the cabinet and pulling out the basket. The figure looked around the common room, as if checking the he was indeed alone.

"Ron! Ginny! Wake up!" Hermione hissed, eyes still glued to the orb.

Ron and Ginny were up like a shot and seeing the other two's expressions, they focused their attention on the glass orb before them. They all watched as the figure pulled out the bottle of firewhiskey from the colourful basket and opened it. He reached into his robes and pulled out a small vial and carefully added a few drops into the bottle.

"Oh God!" Hermione exclaimed as the figure turned around to place the bottle and the basket back into the cabinet. As he moved, his face came in a clear view and all four let out a gasp in surprise.

"Dennis!" Ginny whispered.

There was no mistaking it. The mousey haired Gryffindor was hurriedly replacing the basket back into the cabinet, shooting nervous glances around the room.

Damien and Ron shot out of the door, racing down the corridors. It didn't seem to occur to them that it was now three in the morning and the sounds of their feet could wake up the castle. All that mattered was to get to the common room and pummel Dennis uncontrollably.

Damien felt his heart beat painfully fast as he raced to the common room. Dennis? It was Dennis Creevey! The one who had been hurting Harry was the very person that had been worshipping the ground Harry walked on. Why would Dennis do that? Why would he turn on Harry?

Damien wasn't quite aware of the other three that were racing alongside him. He shouted the password out to the portrait of the fat lady and threw himself into the room. He caught sight of Dennis jumping in fright and looking at the four Gryffindors piling into the room.

Damien didn't know exactly how it happened but the next instant, Dennis was on the ground, curling into a ball while he and Ron were punching every inch of him they could reach. Damien wasn't aware of the words he was shouting but was told afterwards that he had called Dennis every name under the sun. Hermione and Ginny pulled both boys away from the hurt fourth year and Hermione had to literally step in front of Dennis to stop the other two from throttling him.

Ginny cast secrecy spells around the room so no one would come downstairs and see them. Dennis stood up, shaking. He had a split lip and a bruise was already forming on his cheek and eye. He was staring at them in a mixture of fear and confusion.

"What the hell!? What's wrong with you!?" he yelled, staring at the two boys.

"You're asking us what's wrong?! You little…" Ron made to move towards him, his wand pointed at the younger boy.

"Ron, stop! Damien, no, stay where you are!" Hermione yelled, fighting away the two boys from the trembling Dennis.

She turned and grabbed Dennis and dragged him to the chair nearby, "Sit!" she pushed him onto the chair rather harshly.

"What's going on? Why the hell did you pounce on me like that?" Dennis asked, his fingers touching his face gingerly. "Have you both gone mad?"

Hermione stood with the other three, her anger boiling furiously at listening to Dennis fake innocence.

"You know well enough why we attacked you!" she said angrily.

Dennis was stunned, he had never heard Hermione talk with such venom. He didn't think she was capable of it. He looked up and saw four wands trained on him.

"What…why are you acting like this. What have I done?" he asked staring at the four and their wands incredulously. He had left his own wand on his bedside table.

Damien was trying to stop himself from hexing Dennis, he was so angry his hand was shaking. Hermione lowered her wand and walked over to Dennis. She pulled out the glass orb she had snatched from the Room of Requirement and tapped it with her wand. She stood with the orb in her hand as everyone in the room watched the images flash that showed Dennis spiking the bottle of fire whiskey, only moments before.

Complete silence rang through the room. No one spoke until Hermione had lowered the orb, glaring all the while at the boy sitting in the chair before her. Dennis looked like he was one step away from fainting. His face had gone pale, his eyes slightly bulging out from their sockets. He gaped at Hermione, looking at her and then at the orb.

"How…how did you…I don't understand." He muttered more to himself.

"Can we hex him now?" Ginny asked, her wand shooting out small sparks. It was clear that she was barely restraining herself from hurting him.

Hermione glared at Dennis, who in turn looked at Hermione with fear.

"Why, Dennis? Why did you do it?" she asked.

Dennis was in tears now, his fingers nervously twitching, searching the empty air for his wand.

"I…I, it's not…I didn't…I..." he couldn't get out a simple sentence. His breathing was quickening, his face awfully pale. It looked like he was going to have a panic attack.

"Why are we wasting time? Let's take him to Harry and let him do the questioning!" Damien yelled.

Dennis let out a squeak and looked at Hermione at once with a pleading look.

"Please, I…I never meant to…to…"

"Shut up, Dennis!" Ron said as he stalked over and grabbed Dennis from the collar and pulled him up. "You can blabber all you want in front of Harry!" he began dragging him to the door.

"Wait, Ron!" Hermione yelled. Ron stopped in his tracks looking back at her.

"Why?" he asked her.

"I want to know his reasons." She turned to Dennis who was looking around at the four who stood surrounding him. "Why did you do it, Dennis? Why did you betray Harry like this? Why did you spike his drinks?"

Dennis looked up at Hermione, tears making their way down his face. He shook his head, trying to form words to answer.

"Who is it?" Damien asked, drawing everyone's attention.

"What?" Dennis asked, the question came out with a sob.

"The Dark Prince! The one who you've been working for. The one who gave you the potion! Who is it!" Damien asked, his anger was making it difficult to speak properly.

Dennis's expression changed. He looked confused, startled even. He looked from Damien to Hermione.

"I…I don't know what you're talking about?" he stammered.

"Stop trying to protect him!" Ron hissed at him.

Dennis shook his head. "I really don't know what you're talking about."

"Did he give it to you?" Hermione asked, drawing the tearful boy's attention. "The Sedare potion? Was it the Dark Prince who gave it to you or did you come up with that yourself?" she asked.

"S-sedare potion? What are you talking about?" he asked, his hands trembling.

Damien had had enough. He stormed towards Dennis and roughly pulled out the vial from his pocket. The bottle was unlabelled. He pulled out his black book and tipped the contents onto the page. At once the liquid disappeared into the bowl and the ingredients appeared on the opposite page. Damien looked up from the book, Sedare Potion written in clear, dark letters.

"This is Sedare potion! You've been mixing this into Harry's drinks!" he told him.

Dennis shook his head and made to grab the vial back, but Damien swiped it out of reach.

"No, you've got it all wrong. I haven't been sedating Harry! I swear!" he cried.

"Stop lying! We saw you with our own eyes!" Damien yelled back.

"No, no you've got it all wrong!" Dennis argued desperately.

"So you've not been spiking the butterbeers?" Ron asked sarcastically.

"No, I mean, yes, I have but…"

"But what?" Damien hissed at him.

"But it's not Sedare potion!" Dennis cried.

"Really? Then what is it?" Hermione asked, in a disbelieving tone.

"It's Friendship potion!" Dennis cried.

The four friends stared at Dennis in obvious disbelief. Finally Hermione spoke.

"It's what?" she asked.

"Friendship potion! This is Friendship potion, I swear!" Dennis said looking at the four, hoping they would believe him.

"There is no such thing as a 'Friendship' potion!" Ginny snapped.

"Yes there is!" Dennis argued. He turned to Hermione. "Hermione, you have to believe me, please!"

"Explain what's going on right now!" Hermione ordered him, looking slightly confused.

"Hermione, don't listen to him. He's obviously going to make up things now. Let's hand him over to Professor McGonagall." Ron said, still pointing his wand at Dennis who by now was shivering from head to foot.

Hermione was looking torn between dragging Dennis to Harry and Professor McGonagall or giving him a chance to speak. She finally turned to him and cleared her throat.

"You've got two minutes, Dennis, and don't even think about lying to us!" she warned.

Dennis eyed the wand she was pointing at him and shook his head, gesturing that he wouldn't lie. He took in a deep breath and started to explain.

"It's true that I've been spiking Harry's drinks. But I've not been sedating him! I don't know where you got that from. I've been using a few drops of Friendship potion. It works similar to the Love potion but instead of making the drinker fall in love, it makes them want to be friends." He explained in a shaky voice.

"Where did you get this 'Friendship' potion from?" Hermione asked.

"I saw a pamphlet that came with the Daily Prophet near the start of last term. It was advertising it. Someone had left it on the Gryffindor table."

Hermione shared a glance with the other three. She remembered that day. There were all sorts of pamphlets that had arrived, advertising all sorts of potions and helpful things. Ginny was the one who had actually left them at the table. Hermione saw the guilty expression she was now wearing.

"I didn't even notice it at first." Dennis was saying. "I was too upset. That was the day Harry had yelled at me just because I had asked for his help. I know that I had annoyed him. I never meant to but somehow I managed to irritate him. I saw the pamphlet sitting amongst others, and I thought that maybe if I used it, Harry would be nicer to me. All I ever wanted was him to be nicer to me, if not my friend." He said in a sad voice.

Damien was listening to him and trying to remember the pamphlets. He was certain there wasn't any advertising a friendship potion, was there? There were so many that it was possible Damien never noticed it.

"Where did you buy the potion from?" Hermione asked, her voice was quiet and filled with dread.

"I had to send away for it. The pamphlet said to send a letter, requesting the potion and describing who you wanted to use it for. I gave as much information on Harry as I could. The Friendship potion has to be brewed differently for every individual, you see. I received my supply and a plan specifying exactly when to give it to Harry."

Damien felt his blood run cold. He had to repeat what Dennis had just said in his mind. He was given a plan, a plan which told him when to spike Harry's drinks! He looked outraged at the boy before him. His eyes met Hermione's panicked ones and both knew at once what had happened.

Dennis wasn't the traitor. He was being used by the Dark Prince.

"I felt bad spiking Harry's drinks, after I did it the first time, I didn't want to do it again. But it said clearly that once I started I couldn't stop. It may be dangerous to stop in between doses so…so I kept going. I never intended for him to get hurt. I swear it." Dennis finished emotionally.

"You were given a plan?" Hermione whispered. She seemed to not have heard the rest of the conversation. "Show me it!" she demanded.

Dennis reached into his pocket and pulled out a parchment. Hermione was quick to grab it from him. Damien had walked over to her and was examining the parchment for himself. It looked like an official letter, drawn up with all sorts of dates and symbols. Damien noticed Harry's name and date of birth at the top of the parchment. There was a table drawn up in the middle with dates listed next to the number of doses to be given.

Hermione scanned through the dates. The first date was indeed the night of the Christmas Ball. The last one was dated to be a week from now. She looked up at Dennis, anger coursing through her. How stupid could he be?

"How could you do this?" she asked him, holding up the timetable. "Didn't it strike you as odd that the nights you spiked Harry's drinks were the nights that the Dark Prince carried out attacks? Didn't that seem suspicious to you?" Hermione yelled, losing her calm.

Dennis looked at her dumbly, it was clear that that thought had never crossed his mind. He looked over at her and then the others.

"I…I did notice but there were other days that had nothing to do with the attacks. I never thought it was more than a coincidence." He replied.

Damien remembered that Harry had told them he had some nights where he couldn't remember a thing and feared there was an attack but everything was normal.

"I can't believe you would give Harry an unknown potion! What if someone had given you poison! You know that there are plenty of people ready to kill Harry!" Ginny yelled at Dennis.

"I would never give Harry an unknown potion. The day I got it I spent the entire day testing it and running all sorts of test on it. I never gave it to Harry until I was certain it was safe." Dennis argued, shooting Ginny a horrified glance.

"When did you get it?" Ron asked suddenly.

"The day Harry was to help the Duelling club. Everyone was away to see him at the club and I had the dorm to myself. I ran all sorts of diagnostic tests but I didn't see anything in it that would be harmful." Dennis replied.

"You didn't see 'Sedare Potion' listed in the ingredients?" Ginny asked.

"No, I swear. I would never give something harmful to Harry. I couldn't even dream of doing something like that!" Dennis said.

Damien believed him. He knew Dennis for four years. He knew if he was lying or telling the truth. But that didn't mean he wasn't angry with him. Dennis was the reason all this happened to Harry. Whether he meant to or not, he hurt Harry.

"You may not have meant to hurt Harry but you did. You've been giving Harry harmful doses of Sedare potion. Because of you, Harry's addicted to sleeping potion! Because of you, Harry's been going through painful withdrawals, he's been ill and coughing up blood because of you! He's been fighting with dad and mum and everyone because of this, because of you! The Ministry think he's behind these attacks, Harry thought he was behind these attacks because of you and your stupidity!" Damien shouted, unable to stop himself.

Dennis looked horrified. He had tears running down his face and at every accusation, he was shaking his head, a soundless 'no' escaping him. He couldn't believe he was to blame for all this.

"I never meant for Harry to get hurt. I could never hurt him! Never!"

Damien moved away from Dennis, not wanting to lash out at him. He was too angry to do anything else. Hermione stepped forward.

"You have to come with us." She told him. Her voice was gentle but it was clear that she wasn't going to be sympathetic with him.

Dennis didn't fight it. He walked with them, miserably sniffing back his tears. Hermione, Ginny, Ron and Damien walked along the deserted corridors, guiding Dennis with them. They came to Professor McGonagall sleeping quarters and knocked on the door. This couldn't wait until the morning.

xxx

The four teens didn't go back to sleep. They were sitting inside Professor McGonagall's office. The Professor had dragged a tearful Dennis to the Headmaster as soon as the full story was told. She took along the timetable plan for the 'Friendship' potion, the glass orb and what remained in the vial of potion with her.

They were all sitting in silence. The full impact of what had happened hadn't quite hit them yet. They were so sure that once they caught the traitor, they would feel better. But they didn't feel better. In fact, they felt worse.

Dennis Creevey, who would have thought. But that was what was wrong. Dennis wasn't really the traitor. He was tricked by the Dark Prince into sedating Harry.

"I never really thought much about the Dark Prince." Ron said, breaking the silence. "I just assumed he was some wannabe who had taken over. Never did I think this was a careful thought out plan to get to Harry."

Damien shivered at the thought.

"I know." Hermione said quietly. "I was sure that whoever was drugging Harry was doing it on the Dark Prince's command. I never thought it was this complicated."

"You do know what this means, right?" Ginny asked.

"We're back to square number one." Damien answered. "We have no idea who it is that's trying to hurt Harry and we are no closer to revealing who the Dark Prince is."

"There is one thing for certain though, someone in Hogwarts is in league with the Dark Prince. Someone had to plant that fake 'friendship' potion pamphlet at Hogwarts. I've got a feeling that it wasn't luck that brought Dennis' attention to that particular pamphlet. If he didn't pick it up himself it would have found its way to him. Someone is helping the Dark Prince!" Hermione said worriedly.

The silence stretched on for what seemed like hours. Each lost in their thoughts of who the Dark Prince and his 'helper' could be.

xxx

The air was warm but the skinny boy pulled his cloak tighter around himself. He waited patiently for _him_ to arrive. He looked curiously around at his surroundings. He had no idea where he was. As always, he had been brought by portkey. Just as the seventeen year old reached out to examine a particular portrait, a familiar voice stopped him.

"Don't touch anything!" it hissed.

Nott turned around in fright but relaxed as he saw _him_ standing at the door. Nott didn't know how but it seemed as if the shadows followed the figure standing before him. He never got a chance to see him properly. Not that he could anyway as the man always had his face covered by that silver mask.

Nott felt the uncomfortable tingle of dread creep down his spine. He hated that awful mask. The dark haired man moved further into the room. His sharp eyes, behind the mask never leaving the skinny Slytherin, not even for a moment.

"So?" he asked quietly.

"The plan is working." Nott said with a smirk. "He's all alone now. For some unknown reason, he's had a fight with his brother and friends. He stays away from them and doesn't even talk to them. I've heard that he's even broken up with his girlfriend."

Nott didn't know if it was a trick of the light or what but something shifted in the Dark Prince's eyes. It brought a shudder to him. He carried on, regardless.

"His relationship with his parents is still rocky, especially with his dad. They've had loads of fights and he's left the castle before because of it. All in all, Harry's pretty much all alone." Nott finished.

"Perfect." The man replied. His voice deep and full of hate. "Does he know about the potion?" he asked.

"I don't think so. The idiot I told you about, Creevey, he's pretty much making sure Harry receives his doses on time. I told you it would work." Nott replied, proud of himself for noticing the worshipping idiot and the way Harry treated him. Creevey was perfect for this job.

"So, no one suspects you?" The Dark Prince asked.

"No, since I pretty much act like I'm still afraid of him. Ever since I provoked Harry to attack me, everyone thinks I'm scared shitless of him."

"And you're not?" the Prince asked, amusement clear in his voice. Nott's expression darkened.

"He's the reason I lost my father. My father was killed because of Harry Potter! I don't care how powerful he is, I want him destroyed!"

The dark haired man before him didn't reply. He moved towards the window, watching the morning approach.

Nott looked at the man in detail. He was clad in dark robes, his hair dark and just as unruly as Potter's. He couldn't make out anything of his face as it was always hidden behind the sliver mask.

"Can I ask you something?" Nott asked.

The man only nodded.

"You could have given any potion to him. I mean, wouldn't it have been better to slip him some poison rather than Sedare potion?" Nott couldn't see how the sleeping potion was doing any damage.

The man turned around to face him.

"Harry's ability and skill regarding potions is not to be underestimated. He would be able to detect the presence of poison instantly. Sedare potion is the only potion that can't be detected once mixed into a substance. It would take a very powerful device to be able to detect its presence." He explained.

Nott looked at him closely.

"You do want to kill Harry, don't you?" Nott asked. He instantly wished he hadn't.

The man turned around and glared at Nott, his anger making Nott's skin crawl.

"Of course I do!" he hissed at him. He turned to face the window again. His eyes gleaming in the sunlight, an intense hate filling them as he spoke,

"But I want to break him first!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Okay, now I gave you all a long chapter, so please review and tell me what you thought. Cheers!


	27. Grudges

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks to all those who reviewed. Another long chapter, don't say I'm not good to you. Enjoy!!

**Chapter Twenty Seven**

Harry sat, staring out of the window not taking in a single thing Professor Flitwick was saying. He couldn't take in any of the lecture, his mind was on something else, or rather someone else. It had been a week now since he had learnt from his parents that the traitor was found, the one who had been drugging him.

Harry shook his head slowly, he still couldn't believe it. Dennis Creevey. The annoying little brat that had been chasing him around like some sort of lovesick puppy was the one who had been slipping Sedare potion into his drinks. And to top it all of, the idiot didn't even know it was Sedare potion! He had been tricked into thinking it was some ridiculous 'Friendship' potion or something like that.

Harry felt his anger burn inside him. How utterly stupid could someone be? Harry vaguely remembered his dad saying that he should keep calm and not do anything to the Creevey boy. Harry scoffed silently at that. How was that even possible? Harry was going to rip that little bastard apart when he found him!

It seemed though, that the Headmaster knew that's what Harry was going to do and so took the necessary precautions, by sending Dennis away on temporary expulsion. He made it sound like he did it because he was outraged at Dennis' behaviour and that he could have easily killed Harry by overdosing him. Harry's health had suffered considerably and even now, Harry couldn't take any sleeping potions because of Dennis. It light of that, Dennis had to be severely punished and so it was decided that he was to leave the castle immediately. In fact, Dennis had already been sent away by the time Harry woke up and was told everything. But Harry knew better than to believe Dumbledore. He knew Dennis was sent away for his own safety, rather than as a punishment.

Harry had to admit, at least Dumbledore knew him better than the rest.

His gaze drifted from the window over to where Ron and Hermione were sitting. He still wasn't talking to them. He knew that they, along with Ginny and Damien were the ones who caught Dennis and had dragged him to Professor McGonagall. He didn't feel that they deserved any praise for it though, he had never asked them to play detective and catch the one responsible. As far as he was concerned, whatever the four did had nothing to do with him. He wasn't a part of their life anymore.

He idly picked at his quill, pulling apart the feathers. He couldn't concentrate. All he could think about was how he wanted to kill that Creevey kid! But underneath all that anger and fury, Harry felt the sting of frustration. He knew now that the 'Dark Prince' was using Dennis to get to him. He was the real danger, not Dennis. He wanted to get to Harry, but Harry couldn't figure out why. It had to be a Death Eater. That much was certain. The only plausible explanation was that a surviving Death Eater wanted to avenge Voldemort's death. Harry tried to think of who had survived the last battle and who would be that fanatical as to try and avenge their master's death.

"Mr Potter?"

Harry looked up to see the tiny Professor staring at him. The rest of the class was staring at him as well. Harry looked at him blankly.

"Yes" he asked.

The tiny Professor gave an audible sigh.

"You weren't listening were you?" he asked.

"No" Harry replied.

Professor Flitwick looked disappointed.

"Well, how about joining me at the front here. We need a volunteer for the Sadore charm. You've just volunteered." He said rather crossly.

Harry racked his brains, he had never heard of the 'Sadore' charm. Sighing to himself, he got up and faced the three foot high Professor.

"Brace yourself, Mr Potter." He said in his squeaky voice, making Harry struggle not to laugh.

"I'm sure I'll be fine." Harry retorted, trying to imagine a duel with his tiny Professor.

He saw from the corner of his eye both, Hermione and Ron looking apprehensively at him. He promptly ignored them. Professor Flitwick told Harry to point his own wand at his temple and cast the Sadore charm. Harry did so and at once found the classroom before him melt away. Everything blurred in a frenzy of colours. At last his sight cleared and he saw only Ron and Hermione before him. He looked around at the empty classroom. What had just happened? He stared at the two before him, confused as to why they were still here and where the rest had gone. Even the tiny Professor was gone. Ron and Hermione were still seated in their chairs and were staring at Harry, their mouths slightly open

Suddenly, a squeaky voice filled the room and with a pop, the rest of the students and Professor Flitwick reappeared exactly where they had last been. Harry blinked a few times, utterly confused.

"So, who did you see, Mr Potter?" the Professor asked.

"What?" Harry asked.

"When the charm was cast, who did you see still sitting in the classroom?"

Harry's gaze darted over to Ron and Hermione but he didn't say anything. The expression that the two were wearing suggested that if Harry said anything they would both burst into tears.

"What happened?" he asked his Professor.

"You cast the Sadore charm on yourself. When in a large gathering, the Sadore charm allows you to see only those you share a connection with or care deeply about. Everyone else disappears from view. The Sadore charm is useful to use when in a situation where the real identity of someone before you is questionable. If someone disguises themselves as your loved ones whether it is by polyjuice or transfiguration, the Sadore charm, once cast will allow you to determine their identity. If you see them, that's fine. If you don't then you know someone is under their disguise. Of course, it is useful to know who you would see when under the Sadore charm to begin with. So, who was it you saw?" he asked again.

Harry looked over at Ron and Hermione and then looked away.

"No one." He answered. "I didn't see anyone." With that, Harry sat back down, refusing to look at the hurt looking Ron and Hermione or the surprised looking Professor.

xxx

"How have you been?"

"Fine"

"Liar"

"No, really. I'm fine."

"He's still ignoring you, isn't he?"

Damien sighed and looked away from his dad's hazel eyes. He was sitting with his dad in his living room. He fiddled with his wand, picking the edge with his fingernails. He didn't want to do this right now.

"Damy?"

"I don't want to talk about it." He answered tiredly.

"Oh no! Not you too!" James mocked, a look of faked horror on his face. "You've caught Harryitis!"

"Not funny, dad." Damien said but the corners of his mouth twitched, threatening to break into a smile.

"Come on, that was funny!" he said, throwing an arm around his son. In a softer tone he continued. "Surely it's not that bad is it?"

Damien shook his head.

"He knows how to hold a grudge, I'll give him that." He answered miserably.

"Yeah, wonder who he gets that from." James said genuinely.

Damien laughed, "Yeah, that's a right puzzle." He said, looking at James with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" James asked with a confused expression.

"I would say his temper is one hundred percent like yours!" Damien chided softly.

"Me? I'm not like that. I don't hold grudges for so long." He defended.

"Yeah, right! What about last year when you wouldn't speak to me for weeks!" Damien reminded him.

"That was totally different. You were meeting Harry without telling any of us while we were out searching everywhere for him. You completely broke my tru…" he trailed off, the reality of the situation hitting him in the face.

"Exactly" Damien said sadly.

He sighed and looked away, wishing he could turn back time so he could fix this whole mess. He felt James put a gentle hand on his shoulder before being pulled into a hug. Damien let his dad comfort him. It felt nice.

"He'll come around, Damy. Just give him time." James reassured him.

"I don't know, dad. I don't think he'll ever be the same with me again." He confided.

"You're his brother. He loves you, even if he acts like he doesn't. He risked everything to protect you. That will never change. He knows, deep down that you meant no harm. He'll forgive you, eventually." James said.

Damien didn't know if that was true. He stayed next to his dad, letting his dad rub circles in his back. His dad used to do that to him when he was very little. Whenever he would get upset, about anything, his dad would pull him into a hug and then rub soft circles in his back. It felt so comforting. Damien felt a flush as he thought about a fourteen year old, needing to be treated like he was an eight year old, but damn it he was upset. And besides, no one was here to see them.

Damien suddenly found himself wondering how Harry got comforted. When he was a young boy, if he got upset, what would Voldemort do to comfort him? Did he comfort him? He knew that he must have as Harry was so close to him. But try as he might, he couldn't see Voldemort hugging Harry or rubbing soft circles in his back. It didn't fit his image, or Harry's.

"Dad?"

"Yeah"

"Do you think Harry's happy?"

"No, I think he's still really angry." James responded.

"No, I meant happy living with us?"

James stopped what he was doing and stared at Damien.

"Why do you ask?"

"It's just…I don't know I was just thinking the other day. He's not exactly having a great time here. I mean with the drugging and fighting with us and breaking up with Ginny and everything. I just thought if he…you know, regrets what happened. If he ever wishes that he didn't kill Voldemort."

James felt his heart speed up. He was thinking the same thing this morning. He had seen Harry before he left this morning. The dark circles under his eyes showed he was suffering from sleepless nights again. But he didn't talk to James, as soon as James stepped into the room, Harry was out of the door. James was left wondering what to do with him. Other than forcing Harry to sit down and talk to him, there wasn't any other option. Then again, tying him to a chair and forcing Vertiserum down his throat so he told the truth about his feelings, wasn't a course of action James was willing to take…yet.

"I really don't know, Damien. Harry's such a private person, it's hard to know exactly what's going through his mind." James answered sadly.

"Sometimes I feel like Harry hates it here." Damien said. He felt an unbearable urge to tell his dad about his fears about Harry leaving them. "Sometimes I get the feeling that Harry's on his last straw. I think he might just give up on us and leave and never come back! I don't know if I would be able to watch him walk away from us again. It nearly killed me last time, I don't think I would be able to stand it again!" He said, tears springing in his eyes.

"Damien" James said softly, as he saw the tears well up in his eyes. He hugged him tightly, letting the boy bury his face into his shoulder. "Harry's not going anywhere. He won't leave us again. He never wanted to leave us in the first place. He hated being away from us. Just because Harry is angry with you doesn't mean he hates you and wants to be away from you. This is just an argument. All siblings go through this. It will pass, you'll see."

Damien pulled away and shook his head.

"No, it's not just a sibling argument! It's much more than that! You won't understand dad, you don't have a brother. You don't know what it feels like!" Damien said with a sob.

"Okay, so maybe I don't know what it's like, but I know my own flesh and blood. Harry doesn't hate you, even if he say he does." When Damien still didn't stop crying, James continued. "I promise you, I won't let Harry walk away from us. I swear I'll always bring Harry back home. I promise." James reassured him.

Damien looked up at him, his tears still clinging onto his black eyelashes. He gave his dad a weak smile and rubbed at his eyes.

"I don't know what's wrong with me, blubbering like a baby, I'm sorry." He said, looking quite red in the face now.

James smiled and lightly kissed Damien's head.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." He said, making Damien chuckle quietly.

Just as Damien pulled away and rubbed away the last of his tears, the door opened and Harry walked in. He stopped at the sight of Damien and James. Damien looked up at Harry, caught off in surprise as well.

For a fleeting second, Harry's expression darkened at the sight of Damien in tears. He saw the red and puffy looking eyes and the tear soaked face. The words 'what's wrong?' were nearly out of his mouth before Harry stopped himself.

James saw the look of concern on Harry's face at the sight of a distressed Damien. He saw as Harry opened his mouth, obviously to ask Damien what was wrong, but at the last moment he seemed to remember that he was pretending he didn't care. Harry snapped his mouth shut and looked over at his dad. Damien looked away as well.

"Come in, Harry." James said as Harry was still in the doorway.

"I didn't realise you were…I'll just come back." Harry said, already retreating from the room.

"No, it's okay. You stay, Harry. I was just heading anyway." Damien said as he got to his feet.

He gave his dad a smile as he left the room. Harry purposefully looked away from Damien as he walked past him to leave.

"See you later, dad. See you, Harry." He added softly as he left.

Harry didn't answer but turned to watch as Damien disappeared out the door. James watched Harry closely. He could see the conflicted emotions Harry was going through. He still felt angry enough to ignore Damien but at the same time, the sight of his brother upset had him concerned. As Harry was overprotective of Damien in every way, it was causing him a great deal of pain to see Damien upset and not be able to ask him what was wrong.

James didn't say anything to Harry and moved to his desk as Harry came over and started rummaging through his trunk. Harry pulled out his outdoor cloak. James waited patiently for Harry to either leave or to say something. Harry stood, holding his robes in his hands and looking towards the door. Finally he gave up and faced James.

"Dad?"

"Hmm" James answered, pretending to be marking essays.

"What was Damien doing here?"

"He's my son too, remember." He answered, focusing on the parchment before him.

"I know that, I meant why was he upset?" Harry said, a note of annoyance in his voice.

"He wasn't upset." James answered.

"Yes, he was. He was crying!" Harry said.

"Why does it matter?" James asked as he looked up and met his eyes.

Harry looked taken aback. He recovered and glared at James.

"I thought it mattered to you if your son was crying!" He replied.

"It does matter to me. Damien being upset hurts me but it doesn't hurt you so why are you concerned?" James asked in a calm tone.

"I'm not concerned!" Harry replied angrily.

"Just as I thought." James replied, much to Harry's annoyance.

"Why are you being funny today?" Harry asked with a scowl.

"I'm not being funny, I'm being serious. You don't care about him, not after he lied to you. I know that, even Damien knows that. Everyone knows that!" James paused and watched as Harry visibly looked stunned.

"I never said that I didn't care…it's not…oh, forget it! It doesn't matter." Harry said angrily as he opened the door and left, his robes billowing behind him.

James smirked, Harry was worked up enough to start thinking about how he treated Damien. With a bit of luck, he'll see how awful he was being to him and hopefully both boys will make peace. Hopefully being the relevant word here.

xxx

Damien sat outside, the weather was getting warmer, it was fast approaching May and within a week the exams were going to start. But Damien couldn't focus on school exams. He knew that Ron, Hermione and Harry had their N.E.W.T.S but even they couldn't focus on them. So much was going on just now that their heads were always filled with more distressing thoughts. He was going to fail his exams. Damien knew that but couldn't bring himself to care.

His thoughts drifted to Dennis. The school, by now had learnt of his expulsion. The story that was fed to them was that Dennis was caught breaking on of the school rules and was suspended until further enquiry. What it was he was doing was not disclosed. Colin had been taken aside by Professor McGonagall and was told the truth. The poor boy couldn't face Damien or Harry. He stayed in his dorm most of the time, ashamed by his younger brother's stupidity.

Damien sighed and watched as the giant squid lifted out a tentacle, the water sliding off the large pink flesh and dropping back down into the lake. Damien wished he could talk to Harry. He knew that Harry was close to talking to him again. He had seen how Harry had looked at him earlier on today. He had been on the verge of talking to him. The thought brought a faint smile on his face. Hopefully, Harry would forgive him, sooner or later.

xxx

Harry watched Damien as he sat finishing his meal. He had lost some weight, Harry could see that. Like Ginny, Damien had also developed dark circles under his eyes. He was busy playing with his food, and talking in low tones with Ron. Harry watched with a bizarre feeling erupting inside him. He knew it wasn't Damien's fault, he knew he never meant to hurt him. So why could he not forget about it and make peace with him. '_Cause you're a cold hearted bastard who doesn't forget and forgive, ever!_' the voice in his head told him.

Harry gave up on his own meal and left the Great Hall. He walked into his dad's quarter and threw himself onto the sofa. He hated this feeling, this awful feeling of guilt. Why the hell was he feeling guilty anyway? He wasn't the one who had lied and kept anyone in the dark. He wasn't the one who had stood by and watched as someone he supposedly loved, suffered.

With a sigh, Harry closed his eyes. His head was hurting. He started massaging his temples to try and ward off the headache before it got any worse. Damien's tear soaked face wouldn't leave him. He had figured that he was probably crying because of him, because of how he was treating him. Somehow, that thought only made Harry feel worse.

He hated the stupid feelings Damien made him feel. It was the same last year as well. Harry never felt guilty hurting anyone, but when he upset Damien, it just felt wrong. '_You don't care about him, not after he lied to you. I know that, even Damien knows that. Everyone knows that!_' But he did care about Damien. He never said that he stopped caring. He stopped talking to him but he never stopped _caring_ about him. He could never stop caring about him. Just like he could never stop caring about Bella or Lucius or Voldemort.

He was starting to feel slightly sick now as his headache worsened. He never heard the door open and someone come inside. He only realised that someone was with him when he felt gentle hands caress his forehead. He opened his eyes and saw the face of his mum, smiling at him.

"Headache?" she asked.

Harry tried to smile back, but it came across as more of a grimace. He sat up so he could see his mum the right way up.

"You're back up early." He said, not answering her question.

"I wasn't very hungry." She replied. She watched as Harry tried to pretend he wasn't in pain. She sighed mentally to herself. Why did he do that? Why did he not just say he was hurting and needed help? Was it really that hard for him?

She got up and headed over to the small cabinet that held potions. Lily always made sure James had a good stock. She pulled out a vial of pain relief and walked over to Harry, who was watching her with a frown. She held out the vial and Harry just looked at her.

"I don't need…"

"Yes, you do." Lily interrupted.

After a few seconds, Harry admitted defeat and took the offered potion. He gulped it down in one go.

"Better?" she asked.

Harry didn't respond. He held the small vial in his hand, twirling the empty bottle between his fingers.

Lily sighed and sat down next to him.

"Harry, did I ever tell you about the time I first started Hogwarts?"

Harry shook his head.

"I was miserable when I first came here."

Harry looked up at her in surprise.

"Really?" he asked.

"Really" Lily confirmed.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Well, you see it was all my sisters fault. When she found out that I was going to a school for magical people she got jealous. She wanted to come with me, she even wrote to Professor Dumbledore and asked if she could attend with me but of course she was turned down. She was so upset about it she fought with me. I always looked up to my older sister so her anger with me was very hurtful. I tried to make her understand that the situation was out of my hands and that I couldn't do anything even if I wanted to but that didn't matter to Petunia. She said a lot of hurtful things to me that I still won't forget to this day. When I arrived at Hogwarts, all I could do was think about Petunia and her harsh words. It completely ruined my first impression of Hogwarts as I was too upset to appreciate anything. Over the years I grew apart from Petunia and now I only speak to her twice in the year."

She looked at Harry and had to stop talking at the look of confusion on his face.

"What?" she asked.

"You have a sister?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Yes, Petunia. Petunia Dursley." Lily said. Her eyes opened in sudden shock and she asked, "Did…did I not mention her to you?"

Harry shook his head.

"Oh, my, I feel awful." Lily exclaimed. She hadn't told Harry about her only living relative. "I'm so sorry, Harry."

"Do I have any other relatives? Grandparents?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"Harry, I…I don't know what to say. I feel dreadful."

"It's okay. I don't want to meet them anyway." Harry said dismissively.

Lily looked at him, wondering if she should address that appalling comment or not. She decided that it wasn't important. It wasn't as if Harry's aunt would be that glad to meet him anyway.

"Well, the point that I was trying to make was that I know that you're angry with Damien now, but I don't want this argument to drive both of you apart forever. He never meant to hurt you. You know that as well. You mean a lot to him, Harry. Your distance from him is tearing him apart." Lily said softly.

"It's his fault." Harry responded stubbornly.

"Yes, I know. But Harry, everyone is allowed one mistake."

"Not in my book they're not." Harry replied coldly.

Lily sighed.

"Okay, Harry. I'm not going to argue with you. Your relationships are your own private matter but all I want to say is that you should be careful with your words. Some things said in anger can never be taken back. I know from personal experience." A sad look graced her otherwise beautiful face. "Don't say or do anything to Damien that might drive him away from you. You may never get him back."

She left the room, letting Harry think over her words for the rest of the night.

xxx

Damien absently watched as the students hurried to get inside. Dinner was going to be served soon. He couldn't believe it was the end of yet another week. How many weeks was it now, since Harry had stopped talking to him? Six? Seven? He couldn't honestly remember.

He was sitting just at the entrance of the forbidden forest. He liked it here. It was peaceful and quiet. It gave him the needed break from his friends and parents. He could sit here for hours. But if he missed a meal, his friends, if not his parents, would come looking for him and he would have to sit through another lecture of how 'not eating isn't a way to deal with problems'. Damien shook his head angrily, it didn't have to do with any problems, he just wasn't hungry.

With a sigh he picked himself up from the ground and started making his way back. He was just making his way back as slowly as possible when a familiar drawl made him stop and turn around.

"What's the matter, Potty?! Feeling all lonesome tonight?"

Damien turned to see the owner of the voice, Draco Malfoy, and groaned. Malfoy was an obnoxious, annoying prat at the best of times but when he was flanked by his usual group of Slytherin goons, as he was right now, he was downright unbearable.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" he asked with a glare.

Draco smirked as he came to stand in front of him. Crabbe, Goyle and Nott stood next to him all wearing similar expressions.

"My, my, aren't we in a foul mood. What's the matter Potty? Everyone desert your sorry company?" Nott asked with a cruel grin.

"If I were you, I would keep my mouth shut!" Damien hissed back at him.

"Or what? It's not like you can do anything to me!" he looked Damien in the eye before adding with a smirk, "and everyone knows that your brother doesn't give a damn about you anymore. I could do anything to you and he won't give a shit!" Nott pulled out his wand and was holding it threateningly in his hand.

Damien felt the blood rise to his face. He gripped his wand tightly. Damien kept a close eye on Nott and his wand. Crabbe and Goyle were laughing stupidly at the sight. After all a fourth year up against a seventh year didn't have much scope of winning. That was, a fourth year that wasn't in the process of being trained by Voldemort's heir. Damien could almost hear Harry's voice in his head '_never take your eyes off the enemy. Take them by surprise. Wait until they make their first move, block it and then attack_'.

That was exactly what he did. Nott threw a curse at him, Damien didn't recognise it. He concentrated and brought up his full body shield. The orange bubble covered Damien from head to foot, protecting him from the oncoming curse. Damien had to laugh as he saw the shocked and surprised looks on the four Slytherins. Damien brought down his shield and then struck Nott, not by his wand but his fist. Nott was too busy eyeing Damien's wand, waiting to block whatever curse was about to erupt from it. He never saw the other hand come flying at him. Damien struck Nott, straight in the face. The skinny boy stumbled a few steps back, completely taken by surprise.

Crabbe and Goyle lunged towards Damien, eager to use their fists rather than their wands. Damien ducked as Crabbe's meaty fist aimed at his head. He kicked Crabbe hard in the knee, making the large boy groan and fall to the ground. Just as Damien straightened up, a heavy punch caught him, snapping his head to the side. He fell to the ground, his jaw on fire. He hadn't moved fast enough. He looked up and saw Goyle aiming another punch at him. He moved away, missing the punch Goyle aimed at his head. Goyle grabbed Damien by the neck and pulled him to his feet. Damien punched him as hard as he could in the stomach but it made no difference to the podgy seventeen year old. He tightened his grip on Damien's throat, lifting him clear off the ground while Nott and Crabbe stood up. Malfoy was still standing where he was. He didn't make a single move, either to harm Damien or to save him.

"Well, looks like the bastard showed him a few moves. Not bad!" Nott spat at Damien.

Damien was struggling to free himself. He kicked out with his foot, catching Goyle between the legs. With a painful yell, Goyle dropped the fourteen year old and fell to the ground, grunting with pain. Damien was quick to pick himself up. He blocked another curse aimed at him by Nott before shooting his own curse at him.

"JABASCO!" Damien yelled and his curse hit its target. Nott grabbed at his stomach and leaned over, vomiting violently. Slimy, pale coloured flobberworms wriggled on the ground as he threw them up. The sight was rather disgusting.

Damien saw Malfoy looking at Nott with a smirk. He caught his eye and lifted his wand. A meaningful look sent his way. Damien understood it perfectly. He had to curse him, otherwise it would be too suspicious. Damien let Malfoy throw a stinging hex his way. He blocked it easily, his orange shield absorbing the curse effortlessly. Malfoy threw a snarl his way before firing another hex. Damien moved out of the way and it was just in time as Goyle moved towards him aiming another punch at him. Malfoy's hex hit Goyle and the boy fell to the ground screaming as red boils erupted all over him.

Malfoy looked stunned. He had just helped Damien without really meaning to. He shared a look with Damien who looked just as surprised. Malfoy had to pretend to be with the other Slytherins. It was vital for his survival in the Slytherin house.

Damien let Malfoy fire another curse at him. His jumped out of the way, firing the disarming spell at Malfoy as he jumped.

"EXPELLIRAMUS!"

Malfoy's wand flew out of his hand. Damien caught it as it flew over to him. Damien took a moment to observe the Slytherin. This was not a chance to be missed. He sent a jelly legs jinx at Malfoy and watched in mild amusement as Malfoy did a weird jig dance. Malfoy looked at Damien with a murderous glare. His pale cheeks were flushed in embarrassment and the usually slick back hair was beginning to fall out of place.

Damien was so caught up in watching Malfoy humiliate himself that he almost got hit by Crabbe. Damien kicked out as Crabbe tried to grab him. He foot caught Crabbe in the stomach and the force of the kick had the Slytherin gasping for breath. Damien aimed another powerful kick at his jaw and Crabbe fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Damien looked around with a start. He had done it. He had single handily took down four students that were three years older than him. Damien took the moment to observe them. Nott was still throwing up disgusting flobberworms, Goyle was whimpering pitifully as angry red boils continued to erupt all over his body, Crabbe was still out cold and Malfoy was skipping and jumping next to him.

"Now that felt good!" Damien said with a smile.

"Not for long."

Damien whipped around, both his wand and Malfoy's pointed at the person who spoke. He quickly lowered it as he saw a very angry looking Lily Potter standing before him. Her green eyes narrowed at him and silently promising him a long and sufferable detention.

xxx

"I can't believe you!"

"They started it!"

"You should have walked away."

"From four Slytherins? Not a very good idea, mum!"

"He does have a point, Lily. Slytherins are known to play dirty. They would happily hex him from behind." James said, jumping to his son's defences.

"Don't you start!" Lily warned him.

James sighed but backed down. Lily was not to be tested when she was this angry. He gave Damien a look that plainly said 'I-can't-help-you're-on-your-own-sorry!'

"Mum, I don't know why you're being like this. I didn't do anything wrong. I only defended myself. That's not against the rules!" Damien said.

"Defending yourself is disarming them. Not kicking and punching them and knocking others unconscious!" Lily yelled, going red in the face.

"You knocked someone unconscious?" James asked, his eyes wide and round with surprise.

Unlike his wife, James was actually very proud of Damien. He had taken on four boys who were much older and knew a lot more spellwork than him. Well, in reality only two out of the four knew proper spellwork but that fact that he beat them was amazing. However, Lily seemed to disagree and James knew not to aggravate her anger by openly praising Damien.

"Who did you knock…?"

"James, not now!" Lily yelled. She turned to Damien. "You acted and behaved completely inappropriately! I would never have thought you would resort to such violent behaviour. A simple disarming spell on the four would have been acceptable, but you resorted to acting and fighting like muggle street thugs! Where did you even learn…?"

She stopped talking as the door opened and the answer to her question made himself know. Harry walked inside and stopped short at the sight of Damien. Lily narrowed her eyes at Harry and pointed a finger at him.

"You!" she started angrily.

Harry looked confusedly at her.

"What?" he asked.

"You taught him didn't you? You taught Damien muggle style fighting!"

Harry looked from her to Damien to his dad and then back to his mum.

"So what if I did?" he asked, not sure what the problem was. He was still avoiding looking at Damien, who was standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. James jumped in to avoid Lily shouting.

"Damien had a duel with four seventh year Slytherins. He beat them, literally!"

Harry turned to stare at Damien.

"You did?" he asked, all hostility towards the younger boy instantly vanishing. His green eyes were fixed on Damien and a surprised look appeared on his face. James could almost see the pride radiating from Harry.

Damien grinned like an eight year old.

"Yeah, I did."

Harry approached Damien in an instant.

"What happened? Who did you duel with?"

Damien launched into details, pretty much ignoring the two adults in the room. James watched in immense relief as Damien and Harry talked about the fighting in detail. Harry seemed to have completely forgotten the fact that he wasn't on speaking terms with his brother.

"They all ganged up on me! Nott threw a curse at me but I brought up the full body shield and blocked it. Then I punched him right in the face…"

"You punched him? Damy, you never listen to me! You should have kicked him. I told you, always use you legs. It's more powerful. You haven't trained enough to use your fists, they aren't strong enough. You probably hurt yourself as well."

Harry reached out and took Damien's hands in his own, looking them over, checking for injuries.

"See, you have bruised knuckles. You never listen, do you?" Harry stopped talking as he suddenly realised what had just happened. He was talking to Damien again. He let go of Damien's hands and stood back. Damien felt his heart miss a beat. Harry had talked to him like he used to. For a moment there, everything was back to the way it used to be.

Lily had been watching the two boys closely. She was still in the process of telling Damien off, but had stopped as she saw Harry exchange words with him after almost two months. The sight was enough to make her step back.

Damien looked uncomfortably at his parents, not really knowing what to say. He wanted to talk things out and make up with Harry again but the presence of his parents made it all the more uncomfortable. Thankfully James caught on and took a hold of Lily's hand and led her out of the room.

"I have to speak to you about…about that thing." James said, rolling his eyes at his own pathetic excuse.

"That, that thing…well, goodness! We should see to it at once." Lily said and both she and James left, closing the door softly behind them.

Damien looked at Harry uncomfortably. Harry was avoiding looking at him.

"Harry?"

Harry didn't respond. He didn't even look at him.

"Harry, please talk to me. I'm really very sorr-"

"If you ever do something like this again I swear, I'll never forgive you!" Harry said, cutting him off. Damien felt his heart leap. That sounded hopeful. He quickly nodded.

"I swear, I swear I won't ever keep anything from you, ever again!" he said with all the sincerity he had.

Harry looked at Damien and felt his remaining anger melt away. He looked so vulnerable and lost. It made Harry feel guilty again.

"Stop looking at me like that." Harry told him.

"Like what?" Damien asked.

"Like that!" Harry pointed to his face.

Damien dropped his gaze. Harry couldn't help but smirk at him. Damien looked up at him and smiled, relaxing a little.

"So, am I forgiven?" he asked, hesitantly.

Harry took his time answering, making Damien more nervous.

"I'm still really mad at you for what you did and I won't forget about it, ever." He started, Damien ducked his head in shame. "And I'm not going to forgive you either." Damien looked at the ground, nodding his head at Harry. "But I have to admit that not having you follow me around like a faithful puppy and bore the living daylights out of me was pretty hard to get used to."

Damien looked up sharply at him.

"Really?" he asked in genuine surprise, a smile playing across his face.

"Oh, stop looking at me like that. I didn't pay you a compliment." Harry said with a playful scold.

Damien blushed slightly. He looked at Harry more seriously.

"I really am sorry, Harry. I never wanted to go along with the rest."

"Then why did you?" Harry asked, the playful tone replaced by a serious one.

"I…its kind of hard to explain." Damien didn't know if he should tell him the truth. Seeing the expression on Harry's face, Damien decided to stick to the truth. "I was afraid, I guess, is the only way of putting it."

"Afraid of what?" Harry asked.

"Of your reaction. I thought that if you found out that someone was drugging you before identifying the culprit then you might…you know…go away."

Harry blinked at him.

"What?" he asked, not really sure he understood him.

"I thought that you were going to leave. Leave Hogwarts and, and me, I was just, I was scared." Damien said, sounding childish to his own ears.

"You thought I was going to run out on you?" Harry asked.

"Well, yeah." Damien was starting to feel like an idiot.

"Where did you think I was going to go?" Harry asked with a laugh.

"I don't know! You didn't have anywhere to go when you ran away from Voldemort but you still left!"

Damien stilled. He never meant to say that. Harry looked at him, a strange sort of look in his eye.

"I didn't mean to say it like that." Damien apologised. "I only meant…"

"I know what you meant." Harry stopped him. He didn't sound angry. Damien let out a sigh of relief. It was always a bad thing to talk about Voldemort. It was a sure way of ruining Harry's mood.

"I just didn't want to lose you." Damien added.

Harry looked surprised at that. He looked at Damien more calmly.

"You won't lose me. I'm not going anywhere." He reassured him.

"Really?" Damien asked. He knew he was pushing it but he needed to pacify his fears. "I've seen you look at this place like you can't stand it. I can see you force yourself to stay and not walk out the doors with no intentions of returning and that scares me."

"Sometimes I do get that feeling." Harry admitted. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to walk away from you and mum and dad. If I leave, I would leave Hogwarts, not all of you."

Damien didn't know if that was entirely true. The conversation he had had with his dad came back to his mind. He figured now was the time to ask Harry about that as well.

"Harry, are you happy?"

Harry was caught off by the question.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you happy, with dad and mum and me and the way your life is turning out?" Damien asked.

Harry sighed and sat down. A weary look on his face.

"Why are you asking?"

Damien sat down across from him.

"I sometimes think that you were happier when you were with him, with Voldemort." Damien said.

Harry looked away from Damien, his eyes focused on a spot near the wall.

"Harry?" Damien called to him.

"It's complicated, Damien. My life with…with Voldemort was, different. I thought that I was happy but that was before I found out that everything was a lie. He lied about everything, including his feelings. Everything I grew up with was in keeping with a carefully constructed plan just to get me to stand at the front line at the time of war. I was nothing more than a tool to him. Nothing more."

Damien felt his heart break as Harry spoke. That wasn't the answer he thought he was going to get.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, not knowing what else to say.

"You have to understand something, Damien." Harry said, a fierce look on his face. "I can't stand people lying to me. Especially people that I care about. You should understand that."

"I do, Harry. I do." Damien said at once.

"Never lie to me again." Harry said. It sounded more like a plea than a command. Damien couldn't stand the desperation in Harry's voice and walked over to him, kneeling on the floor next to him.

"I swear, Harry. I will never lie to you or keep anything from you again. I swear!"

Harry nodded his head and looked at Damien carefully. He knew he was telling the truth and that was what finally allowed him to make peace with him.

"Just because I'm talking to you doesn't mean I'm talking to the rest." Harry pointed out.

Damien felt a surge of guilt for Ginny.

"Harry, Ginny didn't want to lie…" he stopped as Harry raised a hand, a look of pain flashed in his eyes.

"I'm not discussing it, Damien." He said stiffly.

Damien quietened down. He had just made up with Harry, it didn't make sense to argue with him. He would work his way to make Harry forgive the others. It just needed time.

"So, tell me about this duel against the Slytherins. What started it in the first place?" Harry asked, clearly changing the topic from Ginny. Damien went along for now.

"It was Nott, he was just talking crap about how he could do what he wanted with me just because I didn't have you to protect me."

Harry raised an eyebrow at that.

"Is that what he thinks?"

"He was just being a prat. He probably thought I wouldn't be able to fight the four of them. I mean if you hadn't taught me how to defend myself, I would never have beaten them."

"Who were the four anyway?" Harry asked.

"Nott, Crabbe, Goyle and Malfoy."

"Malfoy?" Harry asked, his eyebrows rose at the name of his friend.

"He was the one who started it. He jeered at me for being by myself. But he looked like he regretted it as he skipped and jigged his way back to the dungeons." Damien added with a smirk.

Harry laughed as the metal image of Malfoy popped in his head. Damien was laughing as well as he ran through a thorough account of how he beat the four Slytherins, making Harry beam with pride the whole time.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I couldn't make Harry stay angry with Damien for long.( I know, I'm a softie)

He won't be talking to the other three, just thought I would point that out. Harry and Ginny is a complicated matter which will escalate when…well, you'll see soon enough! All the relationships are heading for a rollercoaster ride. (evil wink!)

As for the Dark Prince, where's the fun if I reveal him so soon in the storyline? You all are going to have to wait a bit I'm afraid!!

Please review!! Cheers!!


	28. Memories

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks to all those who reviewed. Here's the next chappie. Enjoy!!

**Warning!** This chapter contains scenes which some may find disturbing! Also it is a very emotional chapter. Enjoy!

**Chapter Twenty Eight**

The morning after his duel with four Slytherins, Damien walked into the Great Hall to a deafening round of applause. The entire Gryffindor table was standing while clapping and whistling loudly. The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff table was joining in as well. The Slytherin table was sitting quietly, glaring coldly at the others, silently promising retribution. The four Slytherins who took a beating from a fourth year were conveniently missing from breakfast.

Damien grinned from ear to ear. He walked to his table and got clapped on the back by many Gryffindors. Words of praise rang around him.

"Blimey, Damien! I didn't know you had it in you." Dean said while shaking his hand.

"You took on four Slytherins! Four! It's unbelievable." Jason, a fellow fourth year said, his eyes wide with admiration.

Damien didn't know what to say to them. He continued to grin like an idiot and finally reached his seat through the crowd. He sat down next to Ginny and Ron who were grinning like mad as well.

"Well, check out the new celebrity!" Ron said clapping him on the back. Damien blushed and ducked his head, making Ginny laugh

"Hey, Damien. You need to teach us those killer moves!" Mark, a fifth year said.

"Um, yeah sure." Damien said, unsure of how else to respond.

He caught a glance of Harry sitting at the table, a few seats away. He had a small smile on his face at the sight of everyone praising Damien. He gave Damien a discreet wink before looking away. Damien looked away as well and focused on his breakfast. He had yet to tell the others that he had made up with Harry. The person he was dreading telling was Ginny. How would she take the news?

It was lunch time before Damien got a hold of the other three. He firstly had to go over his fight with the Slytherins before they let him talk about anything else. Even Hermione was impressed with his wand work and duelling abilities.

However, when Damien told them how he spoke to Harry afterwards, all three hushed up and didn't interrupt even once. Damien avoided looking at Ginny throughout the retelling. When he finished, Hermione was the first to speak.

"That's wonderful, Damy! I'm so happy Harry's forgiven you."

Damien could feel his face heat up. He looked hesitantly up at Ginny. She was looking at him, a smile on her face.

"Ginny, I'm sorry. I tried to tell him that you didn't want to be a part of it but he, well, he didn't want to discuss it. He's still really mad, even with me." He tried explaining.

"Its okay, Damien. I'm glad he's made up with you. I know how close you both are. He was missing you, that much was obvious. It doesn't really matter about the rest of us. You're his family. It's better that he made up with you as opposed to any of us." She told him in a strong voice.

Damien nodded his head, not wanting to say anything about how much Harry was obviously missing Ginny. Why was he so stubborn?

"So did your mum set you any detention regarding your duel?" Hermione asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. A week's detention cleaning all the greasy cauldrons in the potions lab." Damien said dismissively. "I've had worse."

The rest silently agreed. Damien was as prankster and usually got into plenty of trouble because of it.

"Before you go, Damy. Go over what you did to Malfoy again." Ron said with a grin.

Damien laughed before going into detail about how he made Malfoy skip and jig all the way to the dungeons.

xxx

The days went by and although Harry and Damien's relationship went back to normal, Harry continued to ignore the other three. Damien found himself going back to what he used to do last year. Spend one meal time with Harry and the other with his friends. It was only fair. He didn't even mention to Harry about possibly forgiving the others. He had only just got back in Harry's good books. He wasn't going to do anything to jeopardise his relationship with Harry again.

He had seen Draco Malfoy glower at him from the Slytherin table many times. He wasn't the only one. Nott, Crabbe, Goyle and many other Slytherins were making faces at him at meal times. But it seemed that was all they were willing to do.

It was on a Friday evening, after dinner time that Draco Malfoy confronted Damien.

"Potter! We need to talk!" he said, coming to stand before him.

"Talk then." Ron said, standing next to Damien defensively.

"Was I talking to you, Weasley? No, I don't think I was." Draco answered. He turned to Damien. "A quick word?"

Damien nodded his head and told Ron and Hermione to go and that he would be fine.

"Let's go outside." Malfoy said and walked out of the main doors, letting Damien follow him.

When they reached the Great Lake, Draco turned to face him, a scowl on his face.

"What do you want to talk about?" Damien asked innocently.

"Drop the act! You know what I'm about to say." Draco snapped at him.

"Really? I don't think so. Why don't you spell it out for me, or better yet, why don't you dance it all out." Damien laughed at the look of outrage on the Slytherins face.

"This is exactly what I want to talk to you about. Stop your stupid stories about how you beat me. You know as well as I do that you won because I let you win. If you weren't Harry's brother I would have hexed you so bad, you would have seen stars for a week!" Draco hissed, pointing a finger at him.

Damien rolled his eyes at Draco. He was about to answer him when the light caught Draco's hand and Damien noticed the silver ring on his finger. A very familiar black and silver ring. Damien stared at it in surprise. He recognised it as Harry's ring. It was actually Harry's private pensive which he had transfigured into a ring. Damien looked at Draco angrily.

"What do you think you're doing with that?" he yelled at Draco.

Draco looked confusedly at him.

"What are you talking about?"

"That's Harry's ring!" Damien snarled at him, pointing a finger at the black ring.

Draco looked at the ring and then moved his hand, shielding the ring behind his robes.

"So?" he asked.

"What do you mean by 'so?' Take it off!" Damien said.

"He gave it to me." Draco retorted.

"Yeah, right! There is no way Harry gave you that ring!" Damien responded. "Take it off!" Damien said, pointing his wand at Draco menacingly.

Draco smirked, eying the wand. He pulled his own wand out and held it tightly.

"You don't scare me, Potter! Harry gave me this ring. It's mine!"

Damien didn't believe him. He knew how much that ring meant to Harry. Why would he give it to Draco?

"I'm telling you one last time, Malfoy! Take it off!" Damien warned.

The blond Slytherin only glowered in response, gripping his wand tighter.

It all happened in an instant. Damien fired a Pertificus Totalus curse at Draco but he blocked it and sent a disarming spell at Damien. The wand nearly slipped from Damien's fingers but he managed to grip onto it. He sent another spell at Draco, furious at him. Draco sent a curse at Damien at the same time. Both spells hit each other in mid air and a blast of yellow light erupted from the collision. The jet of yellow light hit Damien before he could properly grip onto his wand and bring up his shield.

Damien felt his whole body jerk. He struggled to breathe, it felt like he was being squeezed through a narrow tube. His vision blurred and he felt his whole body spin, like he was falling. Suddenly the feeling stopped. His vision cleared and the unseen pressure on his chest lifted, letting him breathe properly again.

Blinking to clear his vision, Damien looked around at his surroundings. He felt his mouth dry as he saw nothing but white walls. He looked up and saw a large hole, as if he were looking up from the bottom of a deep well. Suddenly he knew where he was.

"Oh, no!" he whispered as he looked around himself in shock.

"You idiot!"

Damien spun around to see a very angry looking Draco staring at him.

"What happened?" Damien asked, confused to see Draco standing next to him.

"Your spell backfired! It threw us both into the pensive!" Draco told him.

"My spell?!" Damien exclaimed. "How do you know it was my spell? Maybe it was your clumsy hex that got us here!"

Draco glared at Damien.

"Let's get out of here before _someone_ finds us here." Draco said, looking up at the opening in the ceiling.

Damien had to agree. Harry had just begun to speak to him again. If he found him inside his private pensive then, well it wasn't something he wanted to think about.

"How do we get out of here?" Damien asked. He had only been inside a pensive once before in his life and at that time Professor Dumbledore was with him. He had guided him in and out of the pensive. He had no idea how to get out by himself.

Draco looked at him and for a moment Damien thought he was going to go and leave him behind. But Draco only made a wild gesture towards him, telling him to come nearer. Grudgingly and hating the fact that he didn't know how to leave the pensive himself, Damien moved towards the Slytherin.

Draco grabbed him roughly by the arm and looked towards the ceiling again. Damien waited but nothing seemed to be happening. The grip on his arm was starting to hurt now as Draco seemed to grow frustrated.

After a few minutes Damien spoke to him.

"Is something supposed to be happening right now?"

Draco tore his eyes away from the ceiling and glared at him. He turned towards the ceiling again, focusing on getting out. A few more minutes passed and nothing happened.

"Great! Just great!" Draco yelled, letting go of Damien.

"What? What's wrong?" Damien asked.

"We're stuck!" Draco told him.

"What?!" Damien yelled. "How can we be stuck?"

"I don't know! It's probably because of your stupid botched up spell!" Draco yelled angrily.

"My spell? It was probably your…oh, forget it!" Damien hissed.

Both boys stood in the middle of the white room, purposefully not looking at each other, both worried about how they were going to leave and what would happen if a certain someone found them.

"What do we do now?" Damien asked hesitantly.

"We'll just have to wait until whatever spell is blocking our exit lifts." Draco told him.

"How long will that take?" he asked.

"How am I supposed to know? Can't you just sit with your trap shut!?" Draco hissed angrily at him.

"Don't shout at me, Malfoy! It's your fault!" Damien retorted.

"My fault!" Draco yelled.

"If you hadn't stolen Harry's ring, this would never have happened!" Damien told him angrily.

"For the last time, I never stole anything from Harry! He gave this to me when he ran away from Riddle Manor so I could store memories of meeting him!"

Damien stared at him. "He did what?"

"I couldn't risk getting caught meeting Harry when everyone was out looking for him. Harry gave me his ring so I could remove my memories of meeting with him and store them in here safely." Draco explained.

"Oh" that was all Damien could say. He had just jumped to the wrong conclusion and as a result he along with Draco was stuck in Harry's pensive.

Damien sat on the ground. Everywhere he looked there was nothing but blank white walls. Even the ground he was sitting on was white. It made Damien feel very uncomfortable. He tried to imagine himself somewhere else. Somewhere comfortable and safe, like his home.

Damien didn't notice it right away. He only realised what was happening when he heard Draco curse loudly. He looked up and saw the white walls were being replaced by dark coloured walls. He was on his feet instantly. The room they were currently trapped in was slowly changing. Dark coloured walls with portraits were replacing the blank walls. The ground under their feet was replaced by a thick expensive carpet. Torches hung from the walls, lighting the room. Large arch windows appeared with dark green drapes.

"What…?" Damien started, looking dazedly around himself.

Draco spun around to face him, a look of outrage on his face.

"What did you do?!" he demanded.

"I didn't do anything!" Damien cried.

"You must have done something! All Harry's memories were locked! You unlocked them somehow." Draco told him.

"How could I do that?" Damien asked.

"I don't know how, but you've done it somehow! This is one of Harry's memories!" Draco told him, looking around himself, an expression of unease on his face.

"How do you know that?" Damien asked.

Draco looked at him, his grey eyes locked with Damien's.

"This is Riddle Manor." He told him. Damien looked around at his surroundings, feeling his heart thump wildly in his chest.

"Oh, no!" he whispered as he realised that he and Draco were stuck in Harry's private memory.

Just then he saw the door open and a young boy entered the room. Damien watched in mixed fear and curiosity as a young boy, around the age of nine or ten, walked into the room. There was no doubt as to who the boy was. The messy dark locks and vibrant green eyes couldn't belong to anyone other than Harry. Damien felt a bizarre feeling erupt in his chest at the sight of the young Harry. He was undeniably cute, dressed in bottle green robes and clutching a small silver mask in his hand. Harry looked around the room, his big green eyes scanning the room, searching for someone. Damien looked around the room as well. There was no one else in the room, other than Harry and them.

The nine year old Harry sighed and walked inside, closing the door behind him. He fiddled with his mask, letting the sliver material run through his fingers. Damien looked over to see Draco watching the memory as well. Both boys knew that they shouldn't be watching Harry's memories but they couldn't do anything about the situation. It wasn't as if they could stand there with their eyes shut tight and hands pressed against their ears to stop seeing or listening to the memories.

"We, we shouldn't be watching this." Damien whispered. Why he was whispering he didn't know.

"I know. He'll kill us for sure." Draco said, his eyes fixed on the young Harry.

Despite this, both boys continued to watch as the nine year old Harry walked into the room and sat down on the sofa. His hands were still fidgeting with his mask. Damien was finding hard to look away. He had wondered what Harry must have looked like when he was younger. His parents had lots of pictures of a young Damien all over their house. The only pictures he had seen of Harry were when he was only a baby, under a year old. To see Harry like this felt very odd.

Harry had just looked around at the door when a voice echoed in the room, making Draco and Damien jump.

"You're early."

Harry looked around, as did Damien and Draco, and saw the person who had spoken. Damien felt his blood run cold when he saw the tall figure standing near the wall, with a large portrait of a serpent. His red eyes were fixed on Harry, his bony hands clasped behind his back. The expression he was wearing was blank and cold. It made Damien's skin crawl to see him standing there.

Harry stood up from the sofa and stared at Voldemort. Even though Voldemort was looking at Harry rather blankly, Harry gave him a wide smile.

"Better than being late." He answered in his childish voice.

Damien gasped at the way he answered. He was obviously blaming Voldemort for being late. Damien didn't think many people could blame Voldemort for something like that to his face and live to talk about it. But to his immense surprise, Voldemort's expression softened and something like a smile tugged at his lips. His red eyes seemed to shine with an emotion Damien was certain could be confused with pride.

"I had matters to care of." he said.

Harry cocked his head to one side, giving Voldemort a questioning look. Damien recognised the action. Harry still did that when he wanted to ask a question but decided not to actually ask it.

"Are you ready?" Voldemort asked, walking towards Harry.

"Yes, sir" Harry answered.

"Come along then." Voldemort led Harry towards the door. Harry quickly put on the silver mask and followed Voldemort.

Damien let out a breath of relief as the room began to dissolve. The memory was over. Now hopefully the room would go back to being nothing more than blank white walls. He looked over at Draco and saw the look of relief on his face as well.

But when the surroundings cleared, the two boys found themselves in the same room as before. The sofa that a nine year old Harry had been sitting on was still there but now it held an older Harry. Damien examined the teen before him. Harry looked to be around thirteen years old. His hair had become even messier and Damien could see the results of Harry's training regime through his dark robes. Harry was currently sprawled out on the sofa, looking quite comfortable, reading a book. Damien glanced across the room and saw an annoyed looking Voldemort sitting at his desk, looking through some papers. His eyes were clouded and the frown he was wearing showed that what he was reading was making him irate.

Harry wasn't paying any attention to Voldemort. He looked quite happy, lying on the sofa, reading. Damien found the scene rather odd. He never thought it was possible for anyone to be this relaxed when in Voldemort's company. He glanced over at Draco and saw a look on his face that he never thought he would witness. Draco had a sad smile on his face as he looked at Harry's carefree image.

Harry put down his book and reached over to the table that held a jug of water. He poured himself a drink. Once he had drained the goblet he put it back on the table. The goblet made a clinking noise as it touched the table's surface.

"Harry, I'm trying to figure something out. Keep it down." Voldemort said without even looking up at Harry.

Harry looked at him and responded with a 'yes sir'. Harry settled down and picked up his book again. A few minutes passed in silence before Harry let out a soft sigh.

"Seriously, Harry! Breathe louder!" Voldemort snapped at him, raising his head to look at the teen.

Harry looked up from his book.

"What's the matter, father? Haven't had anyone to crucio lately?" he asked evenly, with a smirk.

Voldemort put down his quill and glared at Harry who in return was still smirking openly.

"Tell me Harry, why do you insist on annoying me with your company when I'm trying to plan out strategies?"

"Because that way, when your strategies don't work you can blame them on my company." Harry responded.

The corners of Voldemort's lips quirked but he forced himself not to smile. But Harry already knew he had made him almost smile.

"Just get out!" he said in a playful tone.

"But I'm comfortable." Harry responded with an equally playful whine.

Voldemort lowered his head back to study his papers. Harry grinned and stretched before lifting up his book again. Voldemort raised his hand and the door flew open. Harry snapped his head around to look at the door. The next moment the sofa that Harry was sitting on began rising off the floor.

"Hey!" Harry yelled as he was still sitting on the sofa. Voldemort was still studying his papers, his hand raised in the air, directing the floating sofa.

Damien watched in amusement as the sofa carried Harry over to the door and tipped him out into the hallway. Harry landed with a thud. He sat on the floor, looking incensed with his very embarrassing exit.

"And stay out." Voldemort said with a smirk, lifting his head slightly to see Harry's flushed face.

The doors to the room closed, blocking Harry out and instantly dissolving the scene before Damien's eyes. Damien felt his head spin as the images before him flashed and whirled around him. It slowed down and the first thing Damien noticed was the bright sunlight. He blinked as the bright light momentarily blinded him. When his eyes adjusted he saw that he and Draco were outside. It took less than a few seconds to work out where they were. They were standing in Harry's massive training ground.

"Come on! Block me!" came Voldemort's voice.

Damien turned around to see Harry and Voldemort with their wands pointed at each other. Again, Damien was surprised to see the small smile on Voldemort's face. He had honestly thought the Dark Lord would be incapable of smiling. He was firing curses at Harry which he was easily blocking.

"At least make it challenging." Harry said while deflecting the curses.

"Don't get cocky with me!" Voldemort replied as he fired three simultaneous curses at the twelve year old.

Harry blocked the first two before jumping out of the way for the third.

"You have to admit, father. You are getting a little slow now." Harry smirked as he blocked another onslaught of curses. "It's probably the age thing."

Voldemort stopped and looked at Harry, a strange gleam in his eyes.

"Are you calling me old?" he asked.

"You may be immortal but that doesn't stop you from ageing." Harry teased.

Voldemort squared his shoulders before sending three curses at Harry. Harry blocked them and then turned to him with a cheeky smile.

"Too slow."

Voldemort smirked and sent a non verbal curse at Harry which threw Harry off his feet. He landed flat on his back.

"Too arrogant!" Voldemort said, grinning at Harry's sprawled form.

Harry jumped back up onto his feet and aimed his wand at him.

"Okay, I was being lenient up until now, but now everything goes." Harry said.

"As you wish." Voldemort answered calmly.

The two began duelling, each blocking the others curses with efficiency. Damien watched with admiration and amusement. Harry was smiling throughout the duel and the sight brought a smile to Damien's face as well. He realised at that moment that he hardly saw Harry smile anymore. He had seen Harry give small empty smiles, especially to his parents but the deep smile he was sharing with Voldemort just now was something he hadn't seen for a long time. The knowledge that Harry was definitely happier with Voldemort made Damien's eyes burn. He pushed that thought aside. He wasn't going to show such emotions, not when Draco Malfoy was standing next to him.

The memory faded just as Harry collapsed on the ground, laughing and conjuring a white flag. The colours mixed and blended with one another and blurred everything from view. Finally it cleared up and Damien saw the huge room with the enormous bed. He knew he was in Harry's room.

"But I don't see why I have to be the one who does it?" A voice caught Damien's attention. He scanned the substantially sized room and saw two young boys standing near the window.

Damien instantly turned to see the expression Draco was wearing as he watched his own eight year old self in the memory, standing next to an eight year old Harry. Draco was staring at his younger self, a red tinge appeared on his cheeks and he was avoiding Damien's eyes. Damien grinned as he saw the eight year old Malfoy roll his eyes at Harry's question and launch into an explanation. His usual slicked back hair was falling around his eyes, his pointed face was just as pale as usual but his grey eyes seemed to sparkle.

"I already told you, Harry. If I go to get it and get caught I would be slaughtered on the spot! But if you go to get it and by chance get caught you can easily get out of it." Draco explained.

"How?" Harry asked with a frown.

"You know, that thing you always do to get out of trouble."

At Harry's blank look, Draco grabbed at his forehead and made a face, scrunching up his eyes and moaning pathetically.

"Ahh! It hurts, I'm sorry, father, ohh, it really hurts!" he said in between moans.

"Yeah, because that's what I do." Harry said annoyed, crossing his arms over his chest, while fixing Draco with a glare.

Draco dropped his hand away from his forehead and looked at Harry with an equal glare.

"Well, do you want to get the Felix Felicis or not!" he asked.

Harry sighed and looked at the door.

"Okay, but if I get caught sneaking the lucky potion out of father's lab, I'm blaming it all on you!" he said.

"Fine! If you want to lose the only friend you have then you can just do that!" Draco told him evenly.

Harry only made a face at him in response and stalked to the door. The memory faded as soon as Harry left the room. Damien and Draco were caught in a whirlwind of colours and blurred images. Damien found himself wondering what other memories were stored here. He knew Harry only stored memories he didn't want anyone else knowing about. All that Damien had seen so far were pleasant memories. Before he could stop himself, Damien wondered what unpleasant memories Harry had stored here.

The swirling colours slowed down and then finally stopped. Damien had to blink a few times to clear his vision. When the room came into focus Damien couldn't help but gasp. They were standing in the living room of Godric's Hollow. Draco was looking around the room with confusion. It was clear from his expression that he didn't know where he was. Damien knew what he was about to see and wished with all his might that somehow the memory would stop. But the memory didn't stop and soon enough both boys saw a small bespectacled boy sitting in the corner. Damien felt his heart ache as he saw the young Harry. He looked barely three years old. His eyes were hidden behind black framed glasses which were being held together by sellotape. One of his hands was bandaged and he was hugging that hand close to his chest. He was sitting with his back towards the wall, his head lowered, eyes fixed to the ground.

"Merlin!" Draco whispered, obviously in shock.

Damien looked over at Draco. He was looking quite pale, his eyes fixed on the young Harry. Damien shuddered as he anticipated what was to come. Soon enough a shout was heard coming from the kitchen.

"Boy!"

Harry looked up at the sound and Damien could see the pain and fever in his eyes. Harry slowly and painfully got to his feet. He bit his lower lip as he straightened his back. He could see the fear on Harry's face as he walked shakily to the kitchen. Damien had never seen Harry look that afraid.

Harry opened the door and walked into the kitchen, to face his parents. Damien was bracing himself for this but the sight still took his breath away. Sitting at the table was James and Lily. Damien knew it wasn't really his parents but the sight still made his stomach twist in knots. Draco seemed to realise what was going on as well. He suddenly reached for Damien's hand and grabbed it, startling him.

"We have to leave!" he hissed at him, purposefully not looking at Harry and the fake Potters.

He looked, instead up to the ceiling, which was now the ceiling of the kitchen at Godric's Hollow. He closed his eyes and concentrated on getting out. But after a few moments, he opened his eyes, cursing. They still couldn't get out.

"You've learnt your lesson, haven't you?" James' voice brought the two boys attention back to the scene before them.

Harry nodded slowly and said in a quiet, fearful voice.

"Yes, sir."

"Good! Now go to your room and stay there. We're having company over and the last thing they want to see is your ugly face!" James said hatefully.

Damien felt like someone had downed him with icy cold water. His dad would never speak like that, with anyone never mind his own child.

Harry moved away from the table and started making his way across the room before Lily stopped him.

"Wait, come back here." Her voice was devoid of the usual warm tone.

Harry obediently walked back.

"Yes, mum." He asked, his eyes fixed on the ground before her.

"Take off your shirt." She instructed.

Damien and Draco watched in growing horror as Harry slowly took of his shirt, hissing in pain the whole time. Damien felt his stomach lurch and bile rose in his throat as he saw the bloodied back of his three year old brother.

"Fuck!" Draco whispered from his side.

Harry's back was littered with welts and bruises. The blood had dried, showing that the punishment was a day or two old. Harry was swaying a little as he stood eyes still down cast.

Lily roughly turned him around, making the little boy gasp in pain. She wrenched his bandaged hand away from his chest and this time Harry cried out.

"Shut up! I'm trying to see what damage is done." Lily snapped at him.

She dug her fingers into Harry's small frame, twisting and turning him around so she could examine his bruised torso and torn up back. When she finished she pushed him back, making him stumble.

"You're fine! Go upstairs. I'll heal your back in a few hours."

Damien stared in horror at her. How could she do that? Harry needed medical attention right away. He was clearly in agony. He was bruised all over and the injuries on his back would definitely get infected if they weren't treated right away.

Harry picked up the shirt from the ground and slowly made his way out of the room. He walked slowly out of the living room. Draco and Damien followed him up the stairs. Damien felt Goosebumps erupt all over him. He was walking in his home and yet he knew that it wasn't his home. It was a hellish version of the home he had grown up loving. He watched Harry reach the landing and expected him to walk to the second room on the right but Harry walked across to the set of stairs leading to the attic. Damien and Draco followed him and found themselves in a cold creepy looking attic. It was so cold in here that Damien could see Harry's breath mist in the air as he breathed. Harry shivered and headed towards the small cot in the corner. He lay down, groaning in pain as his back touched the bed. He wrapped the tattered blanket over his small shivering frame and curled into a small ball. Only when his face was hidden did the child start to cry. His sobs echoed in the empty attic and Damien could feel his heart break as he listened to them.

The memory faded to be replaced with another one. The two boys found themselves in the same place, the attic. Harry was lying on the small cot, his breathing sounded heavy and strained, like he was having difficulty taking breaths. Damien neared the cot and saw Harry's pale complexion and glazed eyes. He was ill. Damien walked over to his brother's side and sat down next to him. He could feel the fever by just looking at him.

Suddenly the door opened and James stalked inside. Harry pushed himself to sit upright in his bed. His eyes fixed on his dad.

"Why are you still in bed?" he asked harshly.

Harry gulped and looked at him fearfully.

"I…I'm not f-feeling we-" He was cut off as James grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him from the bed.

Damien cried out as he saw Harry hit the ground. James pulled the ill, young boy up by his hair and forced him to stand. His legs shook but Harry managed to stay on his feet.

Damien had tears in his eyes and it didn't matter to him anymore if Draco was there or not. He cried as he saw James beat the three year old Harry. Every kick and punch that landed on him made Damien cry out as if it were him receiving the beating. The physical blows threw Harry to the ground. He curled into a ball to protect his stomach and chest. Damien screwed his eyes shut, not wanting to see anymore. He could still hear the beating go on and James' shouts of 'worthless' and 'bloody squib!' rang in the room. Harry was quiet, holding in his cries of pain. The beating finally stopped and Damien shakily opened his eyes. He saw Harry on the ground, blood leaking out of his nose and mouth. His glasses lay broken on the ground, one of his eyes was bruised and had started to swell. Damien looked over to see Draco standing where he was. His fists were clenched tight and the look of fury on his face was frightening.

"Get your worthless self downstairs. You mother has been slaving all day doing your chores! I won't stand for it!" James shouted at Harry.

He left before Harry could get up. Damien watched through tear filled eyes as Harry tried to get up but groaned at the pain. He lay back down, wrapping his arms around his torso. There were tears running down his cheeks and the sound of his strained breathing was making Damien cry even harder. Draco turned his face away from the sight, his back turned to Damien and Harry.

Damien walked over to the young child, lying broken on the floor. He reached towards Harry, wanting to comfort him, forgetting for an instant that this had already happened years ago and nothing he could do would change it. Before his hand could reach Harry, the memory started to fade.

"Oh God, please no more of this! I can't watch. Please let it change. Let the next memory be of Harry in comfort and in no pain, please." Damien whispered to himself.

The next memory they found themselves in was not in Godric's Hollow. Damien recognised the room as Harry's bedroom in Riddle Manor. Harry was sitting on the window seat, his face turned to the window. Damien heard a gasp come from Draco. He understood why. Sitting next to Harry was a dark haired woman. Damien recognised her as Bellatrix Lestrange.

"You have to sleep now, Harry. He'll be back soon and he won't like it that you're still up!" she told him.

Harry, who looked around the age of six, was sitting with his arms around his knees, eyes fixed to the window.

"Go away, Bella." He said in a soft voice.

"Not until you go to bed." She responded.

Harry turned to look at her. Damien could see a sort of haunted look in his eyes.

"I can't sleep. Not until I see him to make sure he's alright."

"I assure you he'll be fine. He's not known as the most powerful wizard, the Dark Lord, for nothing you know. Now go to bed." Bella tried to get Harry up but the six year old wouldn't budge.

"Fine, but when he comes home to find you out of bed, you can explain to him. Don't blame me." She said annoyed.

"Who else should I blame?"

The voice made both Harry and Bella snap their heads to look at the door. Voldemort was standing at the door, looking at both with obvious annoyance.

Both got to their feet and Bella dropped to her knees almost instantly. Harry looked visibly relieved. He smiled at Voldemort while he looked at Harry blankly.

"Leave." He ordered and Bella hurried from the room, her head bowed the whole time.

Voldemort studied the boy before approaching him.

"Why are you still up?" he asked, his voice sounded cold to Damien.

"I couldn't sleep." Harry answered.

"Were you disturbed by nightmares again?" Voldemort asked, his tone warming up considerably.

Harry shook his head and looked at Voldemort, uncertainty clear from his expression.

"I...I was worried about you. You hadn't come back and I thought…I thought…that…"

"That I had left you?"

Harry nodded, his eyes tearing up at the very thought.

Damien watched closely as Voldemort placed a finger under Harry's chin and gently tilted his face so he could see into his eyes. There was no hostility towards Harry at all. He spoke in a different voice. It wasn't cold or full of hate. It was quieter and sounded almost…human.

"I will never leave you. I have already told you this many times. I don't like repeating myself, you know that, don't you Harry?"

Harry nodded his head and replied with "Yes, sir. I'm sorry, sir."

"What have I told you about saying sorry all the time? Harry, look at me. You are my son. You are the son of Lord Voldemort, the most powerful wizard. You are the heir to Salazar Slytherin. You do not apologise, not even to me!"

He lifted a finger and gently touched his wet cheek.

"I don't ever want to see you with tears in your eyes. Crying is a sign of weakness and my son is not weak, is he?"

Harry shook his head, wiping away the last of his tears.

"No, sir. I'm not weak." He repeated.

Voldemort nodded and looked at Harry. His eyes were taking in everything about the young boy before him.

"Why were you afraid that I won't come back?" He asked after a few moments.

"I got scared when everyone else came back from the raid and you didn't. I asked Lucius Malfoy but he didn't tell me what happened to you and I thought that maybe you were hurt." Harry looked closely at Voldemort before adding worriedly, "You're not hurt are you, father?"

Voldemort looked thrown by the simple question. His red eyes shone with an emotion Damien never thought he would see in the world's most evil and hated wizard.

"No, son. I am not hurt. I am perfectly fine." He answered.

The memory faded just as Harry smiled back at Voldemort.

Damien felt Draco hold onto his arm, a lot gentler this time, and suddenly he was jerked upwards. Damien felt his whole body jerk and he landed on his hands and knees. He looked up and saw the evening sky. He looked around and saw the Great Lake. They had managed to come out of the pensive. Damien looked shakily at Draco. The blond Slytherin was brushing his robes and looking around at the deserted grounds. He looked at Damien but found there was nothing he could say to him. Draco turned and walked away, leaving Damien still sitting on the ground.

xxx

Damien opened the door to his dad's quarters and saw Harry sitting on the sofa, a book in his hand. Damien noticed right away that he didn't look half as comfortable as he had when he was lying on the sofa in Voldemort's chamber.

"Hey, there you are. Where have you been?" Harry greeted him, putting down his book.

Damien didn't answer. He walked inside and stopped short as he saw James sitting at his desk, evidently marking essays.

"Hey, Damy." He greeted warmly.

Damien couldn't help it. The moment he saw his dad's face the memory of him beating a three year old Harry came rushing at him. He knew it wasn't really his dad who had hurt Harry but he couldn't help the emotions that came at the sight of him.

"Damy?"

He turned to the sound of Harry's questioning voice and saw him looking at him in concern. The memory of Harry as a child, lying curled up in a freezing attic, bleeding and hurt and horribly neglected came back to Damien. It was too much to take. He ran to Harry, embracing him tightly, thinking about the small three year old he had seen being abused horrendously.

His hot tears fell on Harry's neck, making him grow more concerned. Harry wrapped an arm around Damien, looking puzzled and worried. He looked over to his dad, who was hurrying over to him. Damien's shoulders shook as he sobbed and clung to Harry tightly.

"Damien? Damien what's wrong? What happened?" both James and Harry asked but Damien didn't answer.

At last, Harry managed to pull the tearful boy away and held onto him.

"Damien, what happened? Why are you so upset?" he asked, growing fearful at what must have happened to upset him like this.

Damien looked at his dad's worried face but he couldn't answer him. He felt choked with emotion. Harry seemed to realise that something about James was making Damien more upset.

"Dad, I think you better go outside." Harry told him.

"Why?" James asked perplexed.

"Just go." Harry repeated.

"Damy, do you want me to go?" James asked, looking at Damien.

Damien nodded his head, his tear filled eyes still averted from him. Looking immensely confused and slightly hurt, James left his quarters, leaving Harry alone with Damien.

"Damien, tell me what's wrong?" Harry said, holding Damien by the shoulders. He had never dealt with a tearful Damien before.

Damien calmed down a little and looked at Harry, trying hard to get a grip on his emotions. He knew Harry was going to get angry but Damien didn't even think about lying to him or keeping the truth from him. He wasn't ever going to keep the truth from him again.

Talking a deep breath, Damien faced Harry.

"I…I was with Malfoy." Damien said in a hoarse voice.

"Draco? What did he do to you?" Harry asked at once, angry with his friend.

"He didn't do anything. We…we…" taking a deep breath, Damien gathered his nerve. "We were stuck inside your pensive."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Okay, so this was another long chapter. I swear I don't plan for them being so long. I will try to keep them shorter if anyone finds them too long. Please review and let me know what you think! Thanks!!

Note to A. Nonny Muss, the answer to your question is at the bottom of my profile page :) cheers!!


	29. Consequences

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks to all those who reviewed. Since no one objected to long chapters, I've given you an extra, extra long chapter! (25 pages) Hope you like it. Enjoy!!

**Warning!** This chapter contains a scene which some may find disturbing and creepy! Consider yourselves warned!

**Chapter Twenty Nine**

"What?"

Harry stared at Damien in stunned surprise. He had not expected that. Damien managed to calm down enough to tell Harry what had happened.

"Malfoy wanted to talk to me. I met him beside the Great Lake and we started arguing. I recognised the ring he was wearing and thought that he had stolen it from you. I tried to get it back from him and, I don't know how but somehow, we both got thrown into your pensive."

The look of anger on Harry's face intensified but Damien pushed on.

"It was an accident, Harry. We never meant to go into your pensive. Malfoy tried to get out but whatever spell had thrown us inside was blocking us. We couldn't get out until the effects wore off. We were just waiting, me and Malfoy, and I don't know how, but suddenly we were transported into your…your memories." Damien trailed off, a look of pain flashed on his face as he remembered what he had seen of Harry's past.

"Which ones did you see?" Harry asked, his voice quiet and full of anger.

"The first few were of you and…and Voldemort." Damien replied quietly. "But then memories of…of you and…and…" Damien couldn't finish. Fresh tears sprung into his eyes and he looked away from Harry to brush them away.

It was clear which memories he had seen by his tearful reaction. The sight of Damien in such despair made Harry calm down almost instantly.

"It's okay." Harry said in a strained voice. "You don't have to tell me. I understand what you must have seen."

Damien looked up at Harry, his hazel eyes were now bloodshot because of all the crying. He didn't know what to say. They sat in awkward silence until Damien gathered the courage to speak.

"I don't know how it happened. Malfoy said all your memories were locked. I don't know how we managed to see them. I swear, Harry, we never meant to see them, they just, sort of, appeared."

Harry finally looked up and met his gaze. He knew Damien was telling the truth. He had locked all his memories before giving the ring to Draco. They couldn't have unlocked them, even if they wanted to. Harry's emerald eyes darted to the silver pendant around Damien's neck. Damien noticed the look and reached for his Layhoo Jisteen, pulling it out from under his robes. He watched the thick green mist swirl around inside the black stone. He looked at Harry questioningly. With a sigh, Harry began to explain.

"When I gave you the Layhoo Jisteen, I had to make sure that no one could reverse the protection and binding spells I had cast on it. In order to do that, I had to use some of my blood." At the shocked look from Damien, he quickly added, "it was only a drop, nothing drastic. I guess the pensive recognised my blood and thought I was the one inside it. You must of thought of or spoke certain trigger words which caused the memories to reveal themselves."

Damien thought about it. It did make sense. Just before the first memory, he had been thinking about being somewhere safe and comfortable, like his home. That was what had triggered the memory of Harry in Riddle Manor. Damien realised that for Harry, Riddle Manor was still his home. The realisation made Damien's eyes burn again, but he pushed himself not to break down. Instead he thought about the other memories. He had wondered what unpleasant memories Harry had stored and all the memories of his horrid abuse were revealed.

Damien felt shame wash over him. Why did he have to think about Harry's abuse? Why did he wonder what other memories were held inside the pensive? If he hadn't, then he wouldn't have seen all those horrid things. He dropped his head into his hands and started crying again as the image of Harry's bloodied back resurfaced. The deep bruises and welts littered the three year olds skin and the way Harry had cried when he was alone, Damien would never be able to forget that.

Harry placed a hand on Damien's back making the boy calm down and swallow back his tears. He looked at Harry and felt his heart skip a beat as he saw Harry looking at him with no anger or frustration.

"I'm so sorry, Harry! I'm so sorry." He said in a hoarse voice.

"It wasn't your fault. You didn't mean to see them." Harry answered, a little sternly.

Damien shook his head.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you."

Harry's expression changed and Damien could see the familiar mask taking over him.

"It's fine."

"No, it not fine! How can you say that?"

"It's all in the past. There's nothing I can do to change it." Harry said heavily.

"I know, but Harry how can you say it's fine?" Damien asked.

"What else am I supposed to say?" Harry asked, and for the first time Damien saw the helplessness in Harry's eyes. "I can't talk about it because there's nothing to talk about. If I mention it the only thing that will happen is mum and dad will feel guilty which is stupid because they didn't do anything. The best thing to do is just to ignore what happened and not think about it."

"Can you ignore it?" Damien asked, keeping his eyes fixed on his brother.

Harry didn't say anything. Damien moved closer, kneeling in front of Harry.

"Harry, I only saw two memories and it affected me so much that I can't even look at dad. I know that the person hurting you wasn't dad but it still made me upset enough to not want him anywhere near me. I don't understand how you do it. How do you spend everyday with him and mum and not let the past haunt you? How can you deal with all this alone?"

"I don't have a choice. If I don't deal with it then I'll lose everyone, you, mum and dad. I've already lost one family, I don't think I can survive losing another." The words came out before Harry could stop himself.

Damien felt his chest squeeze painfully at Harry's words. He had never heard Harry talk about them like that.

"You'll never lose us, Harry. Never again." He promised quietly.

After a few minutes of silence, Damien spoke, asking the question he wanted to ask for so long.

"Is that what you have nightmares about? Do you see your past? I mean do you see dad and…the…the abuse…is that what you see when you sleep?" he asked awkwardly.

Harry was quiet for long minutes. Damien thought Harry wasn't going to answer until he spoke in a quiet voice.

"Sometimes, I used to dream about it a lot when I was growing up. That's actually why I got the Pensive. It was used to store all those memories."

"Did it work?" Damien asked.

"At first yeah. The Pensive takes the actual memory and although an imprint of the memory is still with you, it doesn't come to the forefront of your mind. That way it doesn't bother you. I still remember everything but I don't have to live through it. But when I got captured and brought to Hogwarts, I had to deal with mum and dad everyday. I started getting nightmares again."

"How? The memories were still inside the Pensive. So why did you get affected?" Damien asked.

"Probably because I saw too much that reminded me of my past. It all got too much and the memories I had, in a sense repressed, resurfaced again." Harry explained.

Damien thought about that and suddenly everything that had happened last year came back to him and he understood Harry's actions perfectly.

"Is that why we moved out of Godric's Hollow?" he asked after a few minutes.

Harry looked uncomfortably at him before answering.

"Yeah, but I didn't say anything. It was mum and dad's decision."

"I wouldn't blame you if you had said something." Damien answered. He remembered how Harry had refused to go anywhere near the kitchen and the attic. He understood now why. "Do you still get nightmares? I mean of dad." He asked, fearing the answer.

"I've had a few." Harry admitted. He wasn't fully aware of how much he was confining in Damien. It felt right to tell him since he had seen what Harry had to live through. "When I had that fight with dad, a few days before Fudge's visit, I had gone to Remus' and I must have fallen asleep. I dreamt about dad, hurting me then."

Harry told Damien about the dream. He told him every single detail, right down to how James' eyes changed to red and what he had said to him. Damien listened to the horrifying nightmare. Something about the dream didn't make sense though.

"Why did he say 'Well done' to you?" he asked.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. He didn't particularly want to discuss it.

"I don't know."

Damien thought about it, going over the dream in his mind. Why would Voldemort say that to Harry?

"He said that to you right after you realised that you were dreaming?" he asked. Harry nodded. "Something about that doesn't make sense. Why would he say that to you? Unless…" Damien looked at Harry closely.

"Don't think about it so much, Damy. It was only a dream." Harry said.

"No, Harry. I think there's much more to this dream. You had this dream right after you fought with dad because you thought he wanted to control you. The nightmare you had was of dad, only he was the way you remembered him as a kid. You were afraid he was going to hurt you but then you remembered that dad would never intentionally hurt you. You remembered that he wasn't like Voldemort. You said that as soon as you figured out that you were dreaming you were able to move around again. Dad's eyes changed to red, letting you know that it really was Voldemort. And then he said 'Well done' to you. Maybe he wanted you to know that dad wasn't like how you remembered him. He would never hurt you and that dad would never control you like he did. When you figured out that the person in front of you wasn't dad he congratulated you."

Harry stopped Damien by holding up his hand.

"That would make sense but you're forgetting one thing." he said.

"What?"

"Voldemort hated me. He wouldn't show me anything other than what can hurt me."

Damien looked closely at Harry. This was the first time Harry had talked so openly about Voldemort. But he could see that saying those words out loud was still difficult for him. And now, after seeing how Harry grew up with Voldemort, Damien could understand why.

"He didn't always hate you. From what I saw…"

"Whatever you saw was nothing more that deceit. Voldemort acted like he loved me just so that I would remain at his side. He never cared for me."

Harry's voice quietened to just above a whisper. Damien could feel his heart break. He finally understood the reason Harry was still so torn up about everything. It was because Harry believed Voldemort never cared for him. Everything was an act. It must hurt so much to know someone you loved never loved you back. But Damien felt differently.

"I don't think Voldemort was such a good actor." Damien said quietly.

Harry looked up at him.

"What?"

"All the memories I saw, it may have been an act but somehow I doubt it. He cared for you, Harry. I could tell. The way he looked at you, the way he spoke to you, it was different. He didn't even look like the Dark Lord that everyone had come to fear. He actually looked like, well, a real dad."

Harry shook his head, ready to argue but Damien stopped him.

"Please, Harry, let me finish. That day I went to Riddle Manor with Malfoy and Professor Snape, when I saw you, you were in a really bad shape. I remember looking at Voldemort and I'll never forget the expression on his face. He looked really angry, not at you but for you. He looked at the two Death Eaters and I swear I thought he was going to kill them on the spot. It was clear that he was hurt by your condition. He still couldn't stand to see you getting hurt." This had always bothered Damien but until today he didn't fully understand it. But now it was clear why Voldemort had looked so upset. He had still cared for Harry, just like Harry, despite everything, still cared for Voldemort.

Harry however, didn't look convinced.

"Damien, the person you saw hurting me when I was only two or three years old wasn't just a random Death Eater. It was Voldemort. He hurt me when I was only a kid. I was defenceless and at his mercy and he hurt me repeatedly. When I was older he pretended to care about my nightmares and got me the Pensive so I could store away memories of my abuse. It must have been amusing for him, cause the pain and then supply the means of comfort as well." Harry scoffed but there was a look of intense pain in his eyes.

Damien didn't know what to say. He examined the floor in front of him, not wanting to meet Harry's eye. Surely all that he had seen today couldn't have been an act? The way Voldemort had looked at Harry, the care in his voice it all couldn't be fake. But Damien knew that Harry wasn't ready to talk about it. It was too painful and Damien wasn't going to cause his brother any type of pain. He had been through too much already in his short life.

xxx

Harry was busy trying to stay awake when the doors opened and the next set of Aurors came into the Great Hall. Damien, who was sitting with him for Breakfast this morning, let out an excited yelp at the sight of the Aurors. Harry turned sleepily and saw Remus and Moody standing amongst the other Aurors. Remus was smiling at him and Damien. Harry smiled back and turned back to his plate. So Remus and Moody were with the next group of Aurors who came for the Duelling club. That would be interesting. Harry would have liked to go and see them in training but was stopped from going by his inability to keep his mouth shut. He would get annoyed at the Aurors abysmal teaching methods and material and was asked, not too kindly, to leave. It was better this way, he told himself. He didn't want to go to the Duelling club anyway. The exams were starting this week, he had plenty to keep him busy.

Harry got up to leave and caught sight of Draco. The Slytherin looked at him but quickly diverted his gaze. Harry had yet to talk to him about the Pensive incident. Harry had talked to Damien for hours that day. He had managed to calm him down enough so he didn't freak out when James came back into the room. Harry explained what had happened and regretted it almost instantly as he saw the look of hurt and guilt on James' face.

James had talked to Damien as well and it took Lily's intervention before the two were somewhat normal again. Harry could still detect a bit of resistance from Damien though. Harry had caught him looking at James in a funny way and then shaking his head, as if clearing it. Harry knew it would take time for him to forget the image of his dad hurting him when he was a child.

Harry continued walking out of the hall. He was still staring at Draco as he left the hall and ran head first into someone.

"Oh, sorry!"

Harry stopped talking abruptly as he saw who it was that he had bumped into. Ginny stood clutching her book bag, looking him straight in the eyes. It had been nearly two months since he had seen her up close. Ginny looked intently at Harry as well. Both stood in tense silence. Ginny opened her mouth to speak and Harry chose that moment to walk past her. Ginny watched as Harry hurried out of sight.

Harry was so engrossed in getting away from Ginny that he didn't realise he was going the wrong way. His charms classroom was in the other direction. He stopped when he realised. There was no way Harry was going to go back though. He didn't want to run into Ginny again. He felt the uncomfortable churn in his stomach at the thought of Ginny. He forced himself not to think about her and more specifically _how_ he felt about her. It would fade. His feelings of love for her would surely fade with time. He hoped anyway.

Harry realised that he was standing in a corridor that he had no recollection of. He had never been here before. He stood, feeling like an idiot, staring at the portraits. He turned to retrace his steps when a familiar voice stopped him.

"Wotcher, Harry!"

Harry turned back and saw the purple haired Tonks standing before him. Harry smiled at her. The sight of Tonks always made him smile.

"Tonks, fancy catching you here." He said.

"Actually Harry, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in class?"

Harry smirked at her.

"I should be in class but where should you be right now?"

Tonks blushed a little before answering.

"Well, I'm on leave just now. I thought I would have some time alone with Remus but then he had to cover for Jenkins and ended up coming here for the Duelling club. So I decided to come along as well. It was either this or sit all alone in his flat."

Harry looked surprised at that.

"You and Remus? I didn't realise you both were dating."

Tonks blushed, making her hair turn from purple to red as well. Harry chuckled quietly at the sight.

"Yeah, well, we didn't really tell anyone at first. I knew some were going to be all judgmental because of the age gap and, well, you know the whole 'furry problem' of his. But now, we decided to stop worrying so much about everyone else. The only thing that matters is how we feel about each other." She finished with a smile.

"Well, that's cool." Harry said, not really sure of what else to say.

"I'm glad you approve." Tonks smiled back cheekily.

"So what were you doing here? This is the living quarters for the Aurors that come for the Duelling club." Tonks asked.

"I got lost." Harry answered.

"Well, since you're here and you've missed the beginning of your class anyway, do you want to hang out? I'm bored." She asked with a sincere look.

Harry laughed.

"Yeah, okay. It's not like I'm learning anything new anyway."

Both Harry and Tonks took of towards the main door. It was a warm day and fresh air was just what both needed.

xxx

Ginny walked into the Great Hall just to be escorted back out again. Professor McGonagall was leading out Ron as well.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Your mother is here and wishes to speak to you both before classes start. Please get to your class on time." Professor McGonagall warned.

Ron shared a panicked look with Ginny. Their mum was here, that was not a good thing. Sure enough when they walked into the small room, serving as a single living quarter, they saw a formidable looking Mrs Weasley standing in the middle of the room. At once, Mrs Weasley started yelling and shouting at both Ron and Ginny.

"I am so ashamed of you two! How could you keep the fact that someone was trying to drug Harry to yourself!? How could you be so careless?! To keep such a thing from the Professors! I hope you realise that you could have caused irrevocable damage! Harry's life was at stake and you two gambled with his safety! I am so ashamed! How am I supposed to face the Potters? What am I supposed to say to them?!"

Ginny and Ron kept quiet and took the verbal abuse. They deserved it, they knew that. They should have been prepared for this. Their mum had said she would pay them a visit in her howler. Just as Mrs Weasley finished listening to Ron's version of the events, the door opened and Charlie walked inside.

"Charlie? What are you doing here?" Ron asked, surprised to see his brother.

"I'm here as a favour for Professor Dumbledore. I'm helping with a lecture on Dragons in the Care of Magical Creatures class before they exams start."

Ron quickly escaped from his mum by leaving with Charlie, saying he needed to talk to him in private.

Ginny stayed with her mum. As soon as her two brothers left she broke down in tears and told her mum about what happened between her and Harry. Mrs Weasley was awfully upset with her daughter but the sight of her crying made her melt and she took her only daughter into her arms, letting her cry. She said comforting things to her to calm her down.

Ginny cried until her throat hurt. She sat, huddled up next to her mum, letting her tears fall down her cheeks.

"Has Harry spoken to you again since then?" Mrs Weasley asked.

"No, he ignores me." She replied.

"Ginny, you did an awful thing to him. You betrayed his trust. I don't blame Harry at all. If there is no trust in a relationship then there is no point in that relationship. It won't last. You have to stand back and let Harry come to terms with this. The poor dear has already dealt with enough deception in his life. You didn't need to add to it."

At seeing Ginny's despaired look, she quickly softened.

"Oh, Ginny, have faith. If it's meant to be, Harry will come back to you. If not, then that's something you will have to come to terms with."

Ginny was still looking quite red eyed by the time Charlie and Ron came back inside. Charlie took one look at Ginny and was at her side instantly.

"I think you've done enough, mum. You can stop scolding her now. She's in tears!"

Mrs Weasley directed a glare at her son.

"I haven't made her cry." She protested. Charlie turned to Ginny and sat down next to her, making Mrs Weasley get up, to give them room.

"Are you okay?" he asked his younger sister.

"Yes, I'm fine, Charlie." Ginny said, wiping her face quickly.

"You don't look fine. Your face is all red and puffy." Charlie said.

"Charlie!" Ginny exclaimed.

"Well, not bad puffy…I mean…you look great." He said awkwardly. Ginny looked away and gathered her book bag so she could leave. "Ginny, wait! What's wrong, you've never looked this, well puffy, before." Charlie asked.

"It's nothing." She replied curtly.

"It's got something to do with Potter, hasn't it?" Charlie asked, his tone turning harder.

"Leave Harry out of this, Charlie!" Ginny warned.

"He's done something. I can tell. You're upset because of him. Tell me what happened?" he demanded.

"He's not done anything to me." Ginny yelled.

Ron and Mrs Weasley watched the exchange uncomfortably.

"Ginny, what's wrong? I can tell you're really upset. What happened?" Charlie asked, his concern evident in his tone.

"Harry broke up with me." Ginny replied after a few moments of silence.

Charlie looked stunned. It was clear he was not expecting that.

"Oh, um…I'm sorry to hear that." He said slowly.

"Yeah right!" Ginny said sending him a scornful look.

"No really, I am sorry. I never liked him and I don't think I ever will but I never wanted you to be upset. You're my sister and I want you to be happy. I could tell he would hurt you and that's why I wanted you to stay away from him." He explained.

"Well he didn't hurt me. I hurt him! I broke his trust so if anyone is to blame for the break up, it's me, Charlie!" with that Ginny stormed out, leaving a bewildered looking Charlie behind.

xxx

Harry walked into his quarter to see James pacing the room.

"There you are! Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you!" James said, walking hurriedly up to him.

Harry saw at once that James was really excited about something. Mentally steadying himself, Harry walked further into the room.

"I met Tonks and decided to hang out with her. Classes are only running revision lectures anyway." Harry shrugged.

"I don't really care about you cutting class right now! I'll pretend to not have heard you. Come and sit, I have some great news!" James said, leading Harry further into the room and towards the sofa.

Harry sat down and looked at his dad's excited face.

"Shouldn't you be teaching right now?" he asked.

"I don't have any classes until after lunch." James said as he sat down opposite Harry.

"What's going on, dad? You're starting to freak me out." Harry asked, noticing the wide smile James was wearing.

"I wanted to mention this to you before but I never got the chance. I've been doing some research. I remember reading about this spell that could allow sleep for a few hours. It's usually used for wizards who suffer insomnia. It can work for up to four hours at one time. The only problem is that it makes the person fall in a very deep sleep and once the spell is cast it can't be broken. Only once the four hours are up does the person wake back up."

"How long have you been researching this?" Harry asked.

"About three months now, I wanted to make sure that it didn't have any side effects and that it wouldn't complicate matters because of your health. I just got back a letter from Professor Harrison, the creator of the spell. He confirmed that the spell was safe to use for someone who has a sleeping potion addiction. He also confirmed that if the spell is cast on a relaxed and calm mind it will result in dreamless sleep." James beamed at Harry. He felt his smile slip of his face as Harry continued to look at him with surprise. He had thought Harry would be leaping for joy at the prospect of sleeping properly again.

"What's the matter Harry? Aren't you happy?" James asked.

"No, it's not that. I'm just…I never knew you were researching something to help me. I'm just, surprised I guess."

"Why?" James asked confused.

"I didn't know you would be this affected by me having sleepless nights." Harry admitted.

James stared hard at Harry.

"Harry, do you think that seeing you in pain and discomfort doesn't bother me? Doesn't bother your mum? Do you really think we don't care about you?"

"No, it's not that. I just…" Harry trailed off. He didn't know how to explain it. "I didn't know you had noticed my restless sleep. I know you care, I really do. But I never expected you to spend three months researching a way to help me. I guess I'm still not used to having you and mum look out for me." He tried to explain.

James' face showed how affected he was by Harry's words. His expression showed his hurt that Harry still didn't recognise how much he cared for him.

"We do care for you, we always will, whether you get used to it or not. Harry, I realised that the past few months have been rough and I've said a lot of stupid things to you. I hate how horridly I acted when I found out about your addiction. I said a lot of things to you that I deeply regret."

"And yet you still haven't apologised." Harry added with an accusatory look.

James stilled and then realised that he hadn't apologised and he should have.

"You're right. I really am sorry about everything I said to you." James said sincerely.

"It's alright. You don't have to apologise." Harry replied serenely.

At James' bemused look, Harry started to laugh. James found a smile fight its way onto his face at the sound of Harry laughing. He realised that it had been a while since he heard his son's laugh.

"Well, getting back to the topic of the sleeping spell. I know you're not that good at Occulmency but this should be a lot easier. If you manage to clear your mind and settle your emotions before I cast the spell every night, you should have a perfect, nightmare free sleep." James explained with a smile.

"I'll try but I really hate Occulmency. If this mind calming thing is anything like Occulmency that I don't think I'll be able to do it." Harry replied.

"You can learn everything else then why can't you learn Occulmency? If you want I can ask Dumbledore to help…" James stopped talking at the sharp look from Harry. With a sigh, James continued, "he's not your enemy, Harry. He wants to help."

Harry only shook his head. James could see the hate in Harry's eyes. He didn't understand why Harry hated Dumbledore so much, especially after everything that happened last year. Dumbledore was the reason Harry was sitting here and not in a cell in Azkaban. He didn't say that to Harry though. It wasn't the way to convince him.

"You won't have to learn Occulmency but you have to learn to clear your mind and have it in a state of calmness otherwise you will be stuck for four hours in your nightmares." James didn't expect to see the colour drain from Harry's face at those words. He suddenly felt very guilty for saying that. "Sorry, I never meant…what I wanted to say was that it's important to clear your mind otherwise the sleeping spell would make you fall into a deep sleep but it won't stop any nightmares."

Harry nodded his head stiffly and diverted his gaze. James could have kicked himself. He had just messed up again.

"When are you going to cast the spell?" Harry asked after a few moments of tense silence.

"Whenever you're ready. I thought you could practise clearing your mind first and when you're comfortable we could try the spell." James answered.

Harry seemed to be thinking about it.

"And you're sure it would give me four hours?" Harry asked. James nodded his head. "That sounds almost too good to be true. Four hours sleep a night would be brilliant." Harry said with a smile.

If James didn't know better he would have thought Harry was being sarcastic. His heart almost broke at the sight of Harry getting excited for only four hours sleep. Doing his best to steady his voice, James spoke.

"I was planning on casting the spell twice a night. That would give you a proper night's sleep."

Harry looked up at James, the look of surprise in his eyes again.

"You don't have to disrupt your sleep for me. Four hours is more than enough." He said quickly but James shook his head.

"You don't get to decide that. I cast the spell so I get to decide how many times I will cast it." He said standing up. He walked to his desk to pick up the book detailing the spell, so he could show Harry. He turned around to face him, a smile on his face and added, "And besides, I missed out on the disrupted nights getting up to attend to you when you were a baby. I guess it's time to make up for it."

xxx

The practise for calming your mind didn't go as planned for Harry. He was frustrated with everything happening at once. He was sitting his exams in two days time and he had not had a wink of sleep. He couldn't rest at all. Every time he closed his eyes he would see Voldemort. In Harry's opinion, the practise to calm your mind was just the same as Occulmency. He was trying his best to practise it but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't clear his mind.

"Harry, please let Dumbledore help you." James pleaded with him.

"No! I'm not having him anywhere near me. Never mind my mind." Harry snapped.

"He can help you, I know he can. He's brilliant at Legimens and Occulmency. At least talk to him about it. He might give you a push in the right direction." James argued.

"Leave me alone, dad. I'm trying to study." Harry said, holding up his transfiguration textbook.

James turned dejectedly back to his papers which were strewn all over his desk. He desperately wanted to help Harry. But it wasn't as if he could talk to Dumbledore himself, could he? Just as that thought came to him, he saw Lily walk into the room. She shared a quick hello with Harry before walking to the small bedroom. She gestured to James to follow her. Once inside, she turned to him, a serious look on her face.

"Any progress?" she asked. James shook his head.

"No, he can't grasp onto this mind calming thing at all. I think this is the first time I've seen him fail at anything. Lily, he's awful at it." James said.

Lily bit her lip in worry.

"What should we do?" she asked.

"I don't know. Other than Dumbledore, I don't know anyone who could help." James replied.

"I can't see Harry listening to Dumbledore. We have to figure out another way." Lily said.

Both parents spent the next two days trying to figure out how to help Harry relax and calm his mind. In all honesty it was very similar to Occulmency and that was a difficult thing to learn so they didn't blame Harry for failing so miserably at it. It was the morning of Harry's first exam, Transfiguration, that the solution made itself known.

Sirius and Tonks walked into James' quarter. There was only James and Lily in the room as Harry had already left for Breakfast.

"Hey Prongs, Lily, how are you this fine morning." Sirius asked as he walked in.

"Sirius? What are you doing here?" James asked, surprised to see his best friend.

"I came to see how you are. Things have been awfully quiet and I figured no one would miss me if I came over to check on you guys." The dark haired man replied as he sat down on the sofa.

"Tell them the truth, you mutt." Tonks teased as she sat down next to her cousin.

"What truth? What's going on?" Lily asked, intrigued by the smile Tonks was wearing.

"Padfoot? What's going on?" James asked as he sat down next to him.

"Oh, alright. I came because, well, I've just been promoted." He said, barely able to keep his grin concealed.

"Oh wow, Sirius, I'm so happy for you." Lily said, immediately engulfing him in a hug. James was grinning like mad as well at the news.

"The best news I've heard in a while, mate. I'm proud of you." He said, shaking his hand and giving him a thump in the back.

"That's not the best part. Go one, tell them the good bit." Tonks prompted.

Sirius threw her a pretend glare but it disappeared as he turned to face James and Lily.

"Well, the first job that I've been given is to-" he coughed and spoke in an official voice, sounding suspiciously like Percy Weasley, "carry out an official assessment of the success of the Duelling Club project at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"You're an Inquisitor!" James asked, almost choking on the word.

"Yes, he is!" Tonks laughed, enjoying every moment of this.

Sirius grinned and gave James a mock apologetic look.

"They made you an Inquisitor! Are they mad?" Lily asked, amazed at the Ministry.

"No, they're not mad, they're the Ministry." James laughed.

"Seriously though, why would they give you a job like that? They know you're not mature enough to do that job!" Lily asked.

"Gee, thanks for your vote of confidence in me. I'll remember that." Sirius said to Lily. He turned to James and grinned, reminding Lily of all the times he and James were about to pull a prank. "Guess who I get to examine first. Mad-eye Moody!"

Both men started laughing making Lily roll her eyes at them. Tonks was laughing at her expression. When they calmed down, all four headed for breakfast. As soon as they entered the Great Hall, they saw Harry leaving with the rest of the seventh years. They had the practical exam this morning, in their usual Transfiguration classroom.

"Is Harry okay? He looks really worn out." Sirius asked with concern as he saw his Godson leave the hall.

In a quiet voice James told him and Tonks what had happened.

"…and now that we've figured out that the sleeping spell will help him, his lack of Occulmency skills is stopping us from using it." James finished.

"He won't accept help from Dumbledore?" Sirius asked.

"No, I thought he would get over his hatred but Harry seems to have grown even more contempt for him. He is in desperate need to rest and sleep but he still won't let Dumbledore help him. I'm at a loss as to what to do." James finished.

"I can help him." Tonks offered.

"No offence, Tonks, but I don't think he'll listen to you either." Lily replied.

"No, I meant that I could help Harry with his Occulmency problem." Tonks explained.

All three turned to look at her.

"You know Occulmency?" Sirius asked stunned at the new information.

"Yeah, all Metamorphmagus' have a natural grasp of Occulmency. It's because we can disguise our physical appearance so easily, we don't have a problem with disguising our emotions and blocking everything out. We have to have a calm and clear mind every time we change our appearance. Only once our minds are clear can we imagine how we want to look and then we can morph into that appearance." Tonks explained.

James gaped at her as if she were a gift from God.

"Do you think you could help Harry?" Lily asked hopefully.

"I can't see why not. It's worth a try, right?" Tonks asked.

"Definitely!" James answered enthusiastically. Things were finally looking up.

xxx

The first few attempts didn't go very well. Harry was finding it hard to relax when the room was full of people. James, Sirius, Remus and Tonks were all trying to offer him advice. At last Harry blew up at them.

"That's it! Everyone get out!" he yelled frustrated.

"We're only trying to help." Sirius offered.

"You're all driving me mad! I don't need any help from you lot. Get out!" he yelled again.

At that point Lily walked into the room to hear Harry yelling at the others.

"Well I'm not surprised! How on earth is Harry supposed to relax and calm his mind when there are so many people in here?" she turned to Remus and Sirius. "You two can leave and join me in my quarter. James and Tonks need to assist Harry."

She marched the two Aurors out of the room, making Harry sigh with relief. She gave him an encouraging smile before leaving as well. The door clicked shut and silence rang in the room.

"Ah finally. Peace and quiet." Harry sighed, sitting back on the sofa.

Tonks and James started working with Harry right away. Tonks told Harry all the ways she performed Occulmency. The good thing was that Harry didn't need to actually perform Occulmency. All he needed to do was reach the stage where his mind was calm and settled and where his emotions were under control. He didn't need to bring up mind shields and hold them there since no one was going to penetrate his mind.

"Okay, Harry. Do what I told you and you should be calmer." Tonks said.

"How is counting backwards going to make me calmer?" Harry asked sceptically.

"Just try it, Harry." James said wearily.

Harry gave both a funny look before closing his eyes and counting back from ten, trying to close his mind and relax.

"Do you feel better?" James asked after a few minutes.

"No." Harry answered dryly.

"You're not even trying. You have to relax and unwind." Tonks said.

"I'm trying." Harry told her, immensely annoyed. "I can't relax with you in the room!" he said to Tonks.

"What? Why?" Tonks asked.

"Because I can't relax with people I don't know in the same room." Harry replied.

"But you do know me." Tonks replied, a little hurt.

"No offence, Tonks but I don't really know you that well to feel completely comfortable with you." Harry confessed.

Tonks was looking quite surprised. She had evidently thought she was a lot closer to Harry.

"Tonks, Thanks for all you help but can I ask you to go as well." James said quietly.

Tonks looked at him and Harry, an expression of hurt on her face but left without saying anything. James locked the door before turning to Harry.

"Now it's just me with you. Try now." He prompted.

Harry closed his eyes and tried to let his mind relax.

"Imagine yourself at home. Try to imagine that you are in your room, alone. Everything is quiet and still. Try to imagine yourself there." James said in a soft voice.

"Is Damien there?" Harry asked with his eyes closed.

"Yeah, probably." James answered, distractedly.

"Then how can everything be quiet?" Harry asked, opening his eyes and throwing his dad a smirk.

"Try and take this seriously, Harry." James reprimanded.

Harry closed his eyes again and tried to imagine himself in his room, back in Potter Manor. He could actually see his room in his minds eye. James continued speaking in a soft voice, prompting him to imagine seeing and feeling different things. Harry didn't know at what point he started to calm down. His mind started to calm and unwind. One by one, James started asking Harry to take away the things in his room so that he was left with just an empty dark room. James knew it sounded cruel, but it was necessary for the mind to be blank so the spell could be cast.

"Now imagine that there is nothing around you. Nothing at all. All you see around you is darkness and it's comforting." James said, watching Harry closely.

He could tell it was working, Harry had relaxed fully. James knew that the spell needed to be cast now so the state of calmness would be prolonged for the duration of the spell. He softly spoke the incantation and watched as Harry's breathing evened out almost instantly. James remained at Harry's side, just watching the rare sight of Harry sleeping peacefully.

xxx

Things got a lot better after that. The spell worked miracles for Harry. He started feeling a lot better. His dad kept his promise and would perform the spell twice in the night to allow eight hours sleep for Harry. It meant that James had to get up after four hours sleep himself to cast the spell, but even Harry's protests didn't stop him. He knew how much sleep Harry had missed out on. He needed to catch up. Harry wished he could cast the spell himself. Unfortunately that wasn't possible. He would probably only get halfway through the incantation and then fall asleep.

Harry felt the exams go by a lot easier now that he was sleeping well. He felt rejuvenated, happier and a lot more patient. Whether the last was a good thing or not, he didn't know. He saw Charlie Weasley around Hogwarts and was surprised to find him still throwing glares his way.

"What's his problem now?" he asked Damien. He had thought Charlie would just ignore him now that he wasn't with Ginny anymore.

"No idea." His brother replied.

Other than the issue with Ginny, Harry was feeling that things were finally starting to come together. It was amazing what a night's sleep could do to him. Harry felt a lot closer to James since the sleeping spell. He still couldn't believe James went through all that trouble just so he could sleep peacefully at night. James secretly felt his heart expand with joy that Harry managed to relax in his company. He knew it took a lot for Harry to trust someone and finally he was showing some trust in him and Lily.

It wasn't until the night before his last exam that everything fell apart.

As soon as Harry awoke in the middle of the night he knew something was wrong. It wasn't the fact that he woke up, that wasn't all that unusual. He always woke up after four hours of sleep, when the spell wore off. Any minute now James would come to cast the spell again.

But tonight, as soon as his eyes opened he could feel something was dreadfully wrong. He could feel it in his bones. He blinked in the darkness, trying to figure out why his heart was thumping so loudly in his chest. But as far as he could see, everything was in its place. Harry tried to calm down. Everything was fine.

He pushed himself to sit up in his bed. His dad would be coming any time now. It was just as Harry had pushed himself to sit up that he felt it, a thick sticky substance sticking his hand to the bed sheets. Harry brought his left hand up to his face, trying to peer through the darkness to decipher what his hand was covered in. It didn't take more than a few seconds for Harry to realise what it was. His hand was covered in warm, sticky blood.

Harry's breath caught in his throat as he recognised the substance. Was his hand bleeding? How did that happen? A shiver ran through him as he felt the entire left side of his pyjamas top stick to him. Harry could feel his heart hammer at his insides as he realised his entire left side, starting from his shoulder down to his foot was covered in blood. He couldn't feel any pain at all so knew that the blood wasn't his. He panicked and flicked on the lights wandlessly.

The first thing he saw was that he was indeed covered in blood. It wasn't just a little smudge on his clothes. His clothes were completely soaked through. Harry looked at the left side of his bed and felt his stomach turn violently as there was something under the covers with him. His hand shook but he quickly reached out and pulled off the cover.

The sight made all the breath leave him. Harry stared in horror at the bloodied mess in his bed. Lying in a growing pool of blood was the severed body of Nagini. The large serpent's enormous body was cut up in two halves and piled onto Harry's bed. The lidless eyes were staring right at Harry, the pain of death still lingering in the dull orbs. Nagini's mouth was open wide, its deadly fangs exposed, making it look like the serpent was caught in a silent scream.

Instinct made Harry push himself as far away from the dead body of Nagini as possible. He fell to the floor but kept on pushing himself away. He backed up against a wall and he sat there, unable to tear his eyes away from Nagini's bloodied body.

James sleepily came from his room, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes. He stopped dead at the sight of Harry sitting against the wall, covered in blood. It was enough to drive all the sleep away from James. He saw Harry's horror filled stare and followed it to the bed. His stomach turned at the sight of the mangled body of Nagini, lying in Harry's bed, the blood soaked sheets dripping blood onto the floor. James rushed over to Harry and was kneeling next to him in seconds.

"Harry! Oh God! Are you okay?"

James grabbed onto Harry's shaking shoulders and tried to get him up on his feet, but Harry didn't budge. It seemed Harry was unaware of James even being there. He was in shock, his tear filled eyes were fixed on Nagini.

James pulled out his wand and sent a Patronus, a silver dog remarkably similar to Padfoot leaped from his wand and out of the door and down the corridor, reaching Lily before heading for Dumbledore.

It only took a few moments for both Lily and Dumbledore to reach James. They took in the awful sight of Nagini before attending to Harry. No matter what they said to him, Harry didn't respond. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the dead serpent. It was as if he was completely unaware of the others around him. All he could see was the dead snake covered in blood. Nagini, his father's beloved pet.

xxx

"He should leave immediately." James said in a heavy voice.

"The term is almost over. There are only another two weeks left." Dumbledore argued.

"I don't care. Hogwarts isn't safe anymore, not for Harry." James said bitterly.

"James…" Remus started.

"No Moony! I don't want to hear it. Harry is not safe here! Whoever came last night and planted Nagini's body in Harry's bed could have just as easily slit Harry's throat! I'm not taking another chance. I'm pulling both Harry and Damien out!" James finished.

The group hushed down at that. Dumbledore looked at James and Lily's pale faces. Last night was one that no one would ever forget. Harry was yet to utter a single word. He was currently with Sirius and Tonks, in Remus' quarter, still recovering. Remus, James and Lily were in Dumbledore's office, talking over last night's horrendous event.

"What I want to know is how the body was brought here and by whom?" Remus voiced aloud.

"It's obvious who it was. It can't be anyone other than the Dark Prince! So far he's tried to frame Harry for all his attacks and murders, tried to poison him with sleeping potion, caused Harry's health to suffer immensely, make the Ministry doubt him and when all that didn't work, he came into Hogwarts and planted that, that thing in Harry's bed while he slept!" James answered angrily.

"Why is he targeting Harry?" Lily asked.

"I think it suffices to say that this is a Death Eater trying to avenge his Master's death and downfall. Nagini wasn't just a normal serpent. It must have taken exceptional power or cunning to kill her. Although I would assume that the demise of Voldemort must have weakened her. Voldemort was the source of Nagini's powers." Dumbledore explained.

"But if it is a loyal Death Eater then why did he kill Voldemort's pet? Surely they wouldn't want to hurt something their Master loved." Lily asked.

"Nagini disappeared shortly after Harry returned to Riddle Manor to save Ginny and Nigel. From the reports Severus supplied to me last year, it seems Nagini shared a connection, if you will, with Harry. My guess is that she disagreed with Harry's torture and death sentence so Voldemort sent her away from the Manor. That is why she wasn't there when we ambushed Voldemort. Whoever this Dark Prince is, he probably blames Nagini for abandoning their Master and not being there to help him in the final battle." Dumbledore explained.

James thought over Dumbledore's words. He realised now that Harry's reaction made a lot more sense. It wasn't just the grotesque sight of the mangled body in his bed that had freaked Harry out. It was the fact that the serpent was probably just as much as his pet as it was Voldemort's. To find the bloodied body of your pet in your bed was not something that could be dealt with easily. No wonder Harry was still to utter a word. He was in severe shock. When he left Harry with Sirius this morning, Harry barely registered the fact he was with someone. He still didn't respond to anyone's questions. Poppy had seen him last night and had said that he was in shock and to give him time to come to terms with this.

"Why are we so certain it's a Death Eater? It could be anyone, maybe even someone from the Ministry." Remus suggested.

James shook his head.

"Right now, I don't care who it is. I just want Harry and Damien back at Potter Manor where they'll be safe."

"How can we be certain they will be safe there? Hogwarts is one of the most highly protected places in the wizarding world. If the so called Dark Prince can get in here then how can we be certain he won't be able to get into Potter Manor?" Lily asked, hysteria in her voice.

"She's right, James. We need to find out how this person got into Hogwarts and how he risked planting the body next to Harry."

"I think there's a mole in Hogwarts." James said after a few moments.

"What?" Remus asked in shock.

"It's the only thing that makes sense. Someone in Hogwarts is in league with the Dark Prince. This person was the one who planted the 'Friendship potion' leaflet for Dennis Creevey's attention. This person is probably responsible for supplying the Sedare potion as well. When Harry left Hogwarts and went to Remus' someone alerted the Ministry. That person had to be in Hogwarts at the time to see that Harry was missing. It can't have been a coincidence that the Minister decided to visit at that particular time when Harry was missing. Everyone in Hogwarts knows Harry's sharing my quarters. That's why the snake's body was brought there and not the Gryffindor dormitory. This person had to have known that Harry was sleeping in my quarter and somehow snuck in to plant that hideous thing next to Harry." James paused as something suddenly occurred to him. His hazel eyes widened with shock and he turned to Lily. "Lily, who did you tell about the sleeping spell?" he asked.

"No one. I didn't tell anyone about it." Lily answered, looking confused at the question.

James turned to his friend.

"Remus?"

"I didn't breathe a word of it to anyone." Remus answered.

"I've just realised something. Whoever this mole is, he knew about the sleeping spell cast on Harry! That is why he risked coming into the quarters. He must have been certain that Harry wasn't going to wake up while he was planting the body. He must have known that Harry couldn't awake while under the sleeping spell. It was discovered that there was a Silencio spell cast on the room, presumably so that I didn't hear anything and come to investigate."

"But if we never told anyone about it then how did that information get out? I don't think Harry went around telling anyone." Lily asked.

"I don't…" the rest of James' sentence was drowned out by a deafening ringing sound.

The shrill siren filled the office making Dumbledore and the rest rush to their feet.

"What's going on?" Remus asked, drawing his wand out.

"The alarm has gone off. Someone has cast an Unforgivable inside the castle." Dumbledore told them, looking very pale.

The four of them rushed from the office, Dumbledore leading the way. They rushed down the stairs and saw the majority of students and teachers rushing towards them, joining them. Dumbledore whispered a spell and his wand spun in the direction they had to go. It was presumably where the Unforgivable was cast.

James felt his heart leap with panic as he realised they were rushing towards the living quarters of the Aurors. He saw Remus' face drain of colour as he saw Dumbledore rush towards the direction of his door. They turned the corner and came to a halt. In front of them sat a trembling and pale faced Sirius. His wand was still in his hand and his face was completely drained of colour. He was sitting outside Remus' door. There were shouts heard coming from inside the room. Moody's gruff voice was heard amongst others.

James felt his heart plummet to his stomach. A strong sense of foreboding took a hold of him. He rushed to Sirius and grabbed him by his shaking shoulders.

"Sirius! Sirius, what happened?"

Dumbledore followed by the rest of the staff of Hogwarts, dived into the room but James, Remus and Lily stayed with their friend. They couldn't leave him sitting like that on the floor.

Sirius looked up at James and his eyes were swimming with tears, a fearful look in his orbs.

"James!" he croaked.

"Sirius, what happened? We heard the alarm go off. What happened? Where's Harry?" James asked, not daring to look inside the room and see for himself.

"I tried to stop him, but he…he wouldn't listen." Sirius stuttered.

"Who?" Lily asked.

"Harry. He just went mad. All of a sudden he started shouting at Tonks, blaming her, saying that she was responsible. He said that Tonks knew about the sleeping spell and that she was the only one he didn't trust, that she was with the Dark Prince. Tonks…she…she kept on trying to tell him that he was mistaken but Harry…Harry wouldn't listen. He just went mad. He looked like he was losing his mind. There was nothing I could do. I…I couldn't stop him in time. I was too late." Sirius dropped his face into his hands and started sobbing, making James feel like his heart was about to rip from his chest.

Remus looked at Sirius with fear in his eyes. He stood up from Sirius's side and tore into the room, leaving James and Lily behind.

"Sirius, what happened?" James asked, his voice breaking as a part of him already knew what must have happened.

Sirius looked up at James, "He killed her." He said in a voice that was a just above a whisper.

"Harry killed Tonks!"

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I won't say anything other than, please review and let me know what you think! Cheers!!


	30. Fight of the Princes

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks to all for those wonderful reviews! Here's the next chappie! Enjoy!

**Chapter Thirty**

James stared hard at Sirius. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't. Harry couldn't have killed Tonks.

"Sirius! What are you saying?" Lily cried out, her voice breaking.

"I couldn't stop him. He acted so fast! I couldn't do anything." Sirius seemed to be caught in a trance. He kept repeating those words to himself.

James and Lily looked up from Sirius' broken form when the shouts inside the room escalated. As the two parents watched in distress, their eldest son was dragged out by Moody and an Auror named Kennedy, a fair haired man with a scar running down the left side of his face. Harry was struggling against them, trying to get himself out of their iron grip.

Kennedy and Moody had Harry's arms pinned behind his back and were dragging the teen out quite harshly. The sight made James react instinctively. He pulled out his wand and aimed it at his fellow Aurors.

"Moody! Kennedy! Let Harry go!" he yelled.

Harry gave no sign of hearing his dad but the two Aurors looked up sharply at him.

"Potter, put down your wand!" Moody growled.

"No! Release my son!" James yelled.

The narrow corridor was filled with Professors and students. The whole of Hogwarts had turned up to witness the arrest of Harry Potter. Dumbledore appeared next to Moody. At once, James called out to him.

"Dumbledore! Tell them to let Harry go. There must be a mistake. Harry couldn't have hurt Tonks! There must be a mistake!"

Dumbledore didn't answer him. Instead he turned around so his back was to James. At first James thought he was going to walk away from him but then he saw the Headmaster lift his wand and point it at Remus' room. The Professors that were standing in the way moved to either side, clearing the way. James gasped and dropped his wand as he saw the sight before him. His wand fell to the ground with a clatter.

James couldn't believe his eyes. He was certain Sirius was wrong or mistaken. Tonks couldn't be dead, Harry couldn't have killed her, but as he stared at the body before him all his hopes died.

He saw the body of Tonks, lifeless and pale. Her eyes were closed but her mouth was still slightly open. Her body was lying sprawled on the ground. Remus' broken figure was sitting next to her. James backed away, not wanting to see the body of his friend. He was vaguely aware of Lily's shocked cry but didn't acknowledge it. Tonks was dead, and it was his son, Harry's fault. His hazel eyes met Harry's green ones and all James could see was hate and anger.

Moody and Kennedy pushed past the Professors and students and continued to drag Harry out into the main corridor.

"Moody! Moody, wait!" James cried as he ran towards him. "Moody, please!"

"Sorry, Potter but I have to take him in. He's under arrest for the murder of Auror Nymphadora Tonks." Moody didn't even look in James' direction and continued to walk down the corridor, pushing past the crowd. James ran next to him, to keep up.

"Wait! Let me talk to him. Just for a minute, he couldn't have down this!" James turned to Harry, desperation in his eyes. "Harry! Harry, tell them you didn't do this! You couldn't have done this!" James cried.

Harry turned to face his dad, a mad gleam in his eyes.

"I did kill her! She was a traitor! She was passing on information to the so called Dark Prince!" he yelled.

Gasps echoed around the hall. Everyone was watching the scene with wide eyes and horrified expressions.

"No, Harry! Tonks couldn't have been the traitor. She was one of us! She was with Remus! She wouldn't have sold you out. She couldn't have!" James tried to explain to him.

Harry's expression didn't change. He looked fiercely at James.

"She was the only one who knew about the sleeping spell other than you, mum, Sirius and Remus! Explain how that information leaked out? She's the only one I didn't trust. She was the traitor! You're all too blind to see it!" Harry spat, still fighting off the two Aurors.

James shook his head, he didn't believe for a minute, Tonks was guilty.

"Moody, Moody, please. Just let me talk to Harry in private. Just for a minute, please." He said desperately.

Moody shook his head, making his grisly hair fly about his scarred face.

"Sorry, Potter but he's too dangerous. I can't risk it."

"Moody, all I'm asking for is a minute!" James shouted. But Moody didn't relent. He pushed past him, dragging Harry with him.

James turned around to see Dumbledore standing at the back. He wanted to yell to Dumbledore, ask him to somehow intervene and save Harry, like he did last year. But Dumbledore couldn't do anything. Harry had admitted in front of the whole of Hogwarts that he had killed Tonks. No amount of manipulation would be able to save him now.

James' eyes fell on Remus standing behind Dumbledore and it felt like all the air had been suddenly knocked out of him. There were tears in Remus' eyes. He was completely broken. In all the years James knew Remus, he had never seen him cry. The sight made James' mouth dry up. He realised the awful position he was in. If he tried to save Harry he would lose Remus. If he sided with Remus he would lose Harry.

Moody and Kennedy were nearly at the door, struggling with Harry. James turned around to see them manhandle Harry. He didn't know what to do. He watched helplessly as his son was jostled towards the door while the whole of Hogwarts watched. He felt Lily grab onto his hand. That was when he noticed, amongst the crowd of students, stood Damien. The look of heartbreak on Damien's face was heart wrenching as he stared at Harry and the Aurors.

Suddenly Harry twisted an arm out of Kennedy's grasp and in a matter of seconds he was out of both Aurors' grip. He knocked Moody's wand from his hand in the process. He turned to aim the wand at the now defenceless Moody while Kennedy kept his wand trained on Harry. The only other two Aurors that had come for the Duelling club had their wands trained on Harry as well.

"Harry! No!" both James and Lily yelled.

Damien watched in horror as his brother was, once again, standing at wand point of Aurors.

"Potter, don't be stupid. Give me back my wand and come quietly." Moody tried reasoning.

All the students and Professors of Hogwarts watched the scene unfold before them with bated breath.

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Harry spat at Moody. "I haven't done anything wrong!"

"You killed Auror Tonks!" Kennedy snapped, his wand shaking slightly in his hand.

"I was only defending myself from a traitor!" Harry spat back at him.

"Harry! Tonks was not a traitor!" Sirius yelled madly, he had come to stand next to Dumbledore. His eyes were bloodshot but his expression was one of pure anger.

An emotion flickered over Harry's face before he hid it.

"If she wasn't the traitor then someone in Hogwarts is! I don't care how many I have to kill; I'm going to get the one helping the Dark Prince!" Harry yelled.

James felt his breath catch in his chest. Harry was obviously not thinking clear. He was talking nonsense. If only he could get to him.

"Harry…"

Harry took one look in James's direction and that was all it took for Kennedy to react.

He sent a stunning hex at Harry but Harry threw up his shield just in time. Moody lunged at Harry to grab him but he threw himself out of the way. The moment Harry's shield came down, Kennedy sent a cutting hex at him. He aimed it at Harry's hand, in an attempt to disarm him but at that very moment Harry had thrown himself out of the way of Moody's attack. Kennedy's cutting hex hit Harry in the side instead of his hand, a deep slash appeared just under his ribs. Harry stumbled backwards in pain.

James had his wand pointed at Kennedy and it was only Lily's intervention that stopped him from sending a string of curses his way. Harry looked up at Kennedy, a hand clutching his side, a look of almost madness in his eyes. It was in that moment that James figured out what Harry was going to do.

"Harry! No!" James yelled but Harry had already thrown down Moody's wand.

The wand fell on the ground before the Auror's feet but before he could pick it up or Kennedy could attack again, Harry was gone. He had dissapparated on the spot. The students and Professors gasped at the sight. No one could dissapparate whilst inside Hogwarts, everyone knew that.

James closed his eyes in defeat, not wanting to believe what Harry had done. He had just ruined whatever chance he might have had at survival.

Shocked cried echoed through the crowd at what they had seen. Damien turned and stumbled away from the crowd, his heart thumping heavily in his chest. Tears were burning his eyes and he struggled to stay on his feet as his legs were shaking. He couldn't believe what had just happened, Tonks was dead and it was Harry who had killed her! His worst nightmare had come true. Harry had left them, for good. He couldn't come back. The memories of last year came flooding back but Damien knew that this time Harry wouldn't be saved. Even Dumbledore wouldn't be able to save him now.

xxx

The moments after Harry left were pandemonium. Everyone was dealing with shock at the revelation that Harry could manipulate the powerful wards of Hogwarts. Moody and Kennedy were gaping at each other, not able to comprehend what had happened.

Damien stumbled a few steps, trying hard to breathe. He felt hands grab at him, he knew they belonged to Ginny and Hermione but he brushed them away. He couldn't breathe, he needed to get out, he needed to get out into the open. Hermione and Ginny grabbed at him again. They were saying something to him but Damien couldn't understand them. Damien felt like a huge weight had been placed on his chest. It was compressing his chest, squeezing the air out of him. He was having difficulty breathing.

Damien felt his knees give out under him and he collapsed onto the ground. It was only when Hermione had kneeled next to him and engulfed him in a fierce hug that he realised he was crying. That was the pressure building in his chest. He hugged Hermione tightly and buried his head into her shoulder and cried. Everything had fallen apart. Everything he had gone through since last year with Harry had been lost. Harry was gone and he could never come back. Not after what happened with Tonks.

Damien didn't care that most of the school was present, he cried clutching to Hermione. She was saying things like 'it'll all be alright' and 'calm down' but Damien couldn't calm down. He knew things would only get worse, with Harry running away like that. Nothing would be alright, never again.

Within a matter of minutes Dumbledore had ordered everyone to return to their dormitories and all the staff to meet in his office. He excused James and Lily. Damien was picked up from the ground by his dad. James wouldn't meet his son's eyes. He walked him to his quarter in silence, Lily walking alongside him.

Lily stayed with Damien while James went to find his two friends. Everything around him felt surreal. The atmosphere of Hogwarts was completely changed. Everyone was shook up by the events of today. He wished all this was a dream, a horrid nightmare that he would soon wake up from. But it wasn't a nightmare, everything that had happened in the last hour was real.

Tonks' body was taken away by Aurors. Within an hour of Harry's departure the place was crawling with Aurors. Even Fudge came down and wanted a private word with Dumbledore.

James found Remus and Sirius in the same room they had found Tonks' body. They sat in silence with Remus. The werewolf hadn't said a word to anyone and hadn't moved from the room ever since the Aurors took Tonks' body. James didn't know what to say so he sat in silence. Any words of comfort sounded empty and meaningless even in his head so he didn't bother saying them out loud.

Sirius couldn't take it any longer and whispered an 'I'm sorry!' and fled to the Room of Requirement. He locked himself in there, refusing to see anybody to talk to anyone. James understood what he must be going through. He had lost his cousin and his Godson. Sirius was feeling guilty. He was there when Harry killed Tonks. He could have done something to stop Harry, or so he thought. James didn't blame Sirius, and he was sure neither did Remus.

James wished he could say something to comfort his friend for his loss. The most natural thing for James to say to Remus was that he would find the person responsible for causing him pain and make them pay. But that was exactly what was wrong in this situation because the one responsible for all this was his own son.

What James still couldn't understand was why Harry had thought Tonks was the traitor? He knew Harry was fond of Tonks. He had seen the way Harry's eyes would light up and that genuine smile that crossed his face at the sight of the Tonks. What happened to make Harry think she was the enemy?

James couldn't deal with those questions just now. He felt like his head was about to burst with tension. He didn't want to think about how screwed up everything was right now. Harry was on the run, again and this time there wasn't anything Dumbledore or anyone else could do to save him. Both his best friends were broken, one by the death of his lover and the other by witnessing that death. His youngest son was devastated and would need all the support to get through this and his wife was probably not that far behind him. The question was; who was there to help James through all of this?

xxx

By that evening things got progressively worse. Remus was still in his room, refusing to come out and Sirius had yet to make an appearance out of the Room of Requirement. James wanted desperately to talk to Sirius. He wanted to find out exactly what had happened between Harry and Tonks before her death. James was still having difficulty believing Harry killed her. Harry was hot headed and known to act rash, yes but, to kill someone he liked only a day earlier? It didn't make any sense. But then why did Harry admit to killing her? And Sirius said it was Harry who killed her and the alarm went of because an Unforgivable had been cast, meaning the killing curse.

James tried to talk to Sirius but he asked to be left alone. He wouldn't even open the door. James left and headed up to meet with Dumbledore. He had been sent a message at dinner time requesting a word. James knew Dumbledore had bad news to tell him. His meeting with the Minister had just finished an hour ago.

He walked in to see Dumbledore standing next to the window, scanning the view. He turned to greet James, looking immensely tired.

"How are you, James?" he asked with concern.

"How do you imagine?" James answered glumly.

Dumbledore lowered his head and for an instant his face seemed to show his true age. He looked, weak and old. James berated himself. This wasn't Dumbledore's fault.

"I'm sorry, Dumbledore. It's just…I've not let myself think about it. I fear I won't be able to deal with it. I still don't believe Harry…" he faltered and had to take a deep breath to continue. "I'm still hoping this is just a nightmare that I'll wake up from soon." He finished.

"I understand, James. I really do." Dumbledore empathised.

"So, why did you want to see me?" James asked. He knew the Headmaster hadn't called him just to ask how he was doing.

Sure enough Dumbledore took a deep breath and gave James a look that made his hair stand on end. James could tell that the news was bad.

"Tonks, her body is missing."

"What!?" James exclaimed.

"I was informed shortly after Minister Fudge left. The Aurors don't know how it happened. They said it was literally as if it disappeared into thin air. There is a search in place for her." James cursed under his breath. How was this news going to affect Remus? He was already falling apart. Dumbledore continued with the other news he had. "The Minister's visit today had resulted in the demand that the school is closed early. We still have two weeks of term left but under the circumstances, he thinks it would be best to close early."

"He doesn't get to decide that!" James said angrily.

"I agree with Cornelius on this occasion."

James stared at Dumbledore. Albus Dumbledore never agreed with the Minister over anything and that was usually a good thing.

"Dumbledore, you can't shut the school early. It will do nothing but cause panic and havoc. Don't you remember the effect that the school closing had last year?"

Dumbledore inclined his head but continued to look solemnly at James.

"I remember but I'm afraid I have no other choice. The fact that Harry can manipulate the wards of Hogwarts has caused panic. His threat of killing the person responsible for helping the Dark Prince has to be taken seriously. He can come back to Hogwarts at any moment and there's nothing anyone can do to stop him. The Minister is convinced that Harry _is_ the Dark Prince and all this talk of a spy is nonsense. He's pinning all the crimes committed by the Dark Prince on Harry."

"That's bullshit! He can't do that! Everyone knows about the Sedare potion and what that Creevey boy was doing! And as for Harry coming back to Hogwarts to attack someone else, you can't believe that! Harry knows if he comes back he'll get caught. He won't risk it!" James cried at once.

"We don't know that for certain. I can't risk the safety of my students. Can you imagine if a student had been in the place of Tonks?"

James felt a shudder ran through him at the thought. Dumbledore was right. Hogwarts wasn't safe, not if Harry could apparate back at any point. He felt all his anger leave him and was left feeling drained and weak.

"What are your instructions?" James asked, miserable at the thought of Hogwarts closing again because of Harry.

"Wrap up your lessons and prepare to go home. I'll announce the decision at Breakfast tomorrow. Hogwarts Express is being arranged for the day after tomorrow. Hogwarts will close early and will not reopen until Harry is caught." Dumbledore answered.

It hit James like a physical blow. Tomorrow? That was their last day at Hogwarts. The day after they were leaving for Merlin knows how long. James didn't say anything but nodded his head with difficulty.

"Is that all?" he asked.

Dumbledore seemed grow more uneasy, making James dread whatever he was going to say next.

"The Minister told me the order he's given to his Aurors, regarding Harry. I tried to stop him but he wouldn't listen to any reasoning." He looked at James with sorrow, making James' heart leap uncomfortably. "I'm sorry, James. His orders are 'kill on sight'. He's afraid of him and what he could do. He knows now that Harry's more powerful than Voldemort and that scares him more than anything."

James was hardly listening to him. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew this would happen. The moment he saw Harry disapparate from Hogwarts, he knew this would be his fate. What else could be expected of the Minister? He was known to act rash when afraid and he was already afraid of Harry without the knowledge of how powerful he actually was.

James walked to his room in a daze, his mind engulfed with fear and racing with thoughts of how he could save his son now?

xxx

Sirius sat in the Room of Requirement. He sat in complete silence, his body held tense, eyes clouded with worry. His hands were still shaking. He sat quietly, looking at the spot in front of him.

Suddenly, without any warning, a pop was heard and Harry appeared at the exact spot Sirius was staring at.

Harry swayed on his feet and took one step towards him before collapsing. Sirius had already reached him and caught the teen easily. He helped Harry to sit on the ground. Harry had his eyes closed and his teeth clenched to stop the cry of pain escaping him. His hand was pressed to his side where Kennedy's cutting hex had got him. Without saying a word to him, Sirius moved Harry's hand away before examining the wound. It was not that deep, that was the good news. It needed attending to though. Sirius looked into the face of his Godson.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah" Harry breathed, opening his eyes and meeting Sirius' worried gaze.

"I can't believe Kennedy got you." Sirius commented, examining the wound again.

Harry ignored him. He looked at the large clock hanging in the room.

"Tonks?" he asked.

"She should be coming any minute now." Sirius replied, still not looking up from Harry's injury. "She said she would disguise herself as a student and make her way up here."

Harry only nodded his head and leaned back to rest. It had worked. His plan had worked perfectly. Well, he could have done without Kennedy's cutting hex but all in all everything else went accordingly. He closed his eyes and tried not to let his mind wander to the heartbroken expressions his parents and Damien had worn the last time he saw them.

Sirius got up and walked to the small cabinet. He had already asked the room for medical supplies. He knew Harry was going to need them. He opened it to see all the medical supplies he needed. He gathered up the pain relief potion and the items needed to clean and dress Harry's wound and headed back towards him.

"This plan of yours better work, Harry." Sirius said anxiously as he sat down next to him.

"It will, trust me." Harry said, leaning back to rest his head against the wall.

Sirius nodded and started to clean and dress Harry's wound. He worked in silence, both too tired to make conversation.

"Your dad is really freaking out." Sirius said after he had finished. He handed Harry the vial of pain relief, which Harry gulped down instantly.

"I would guess as much." Harry answered.

"I know what you said but Harry, can't we tell James about the plan now? I mean everything is done, there's nothing he could do to stop you." Sirius asked.

Harry shook his head.

"No, Sirius. It's too risky. I told you someone in Hogwarts is with the so called Dark Prince. Whoever this person is will keep a close eye on mum, dad and Damien. It's important that they believe I'm guilty for murder and on the run. If they find out the truth then their reactions won't be genuine. If the Dark Prince's spy has any reason to doubt them or finds out what really happened with Tonks then my whole plan will fail." Harry explained.

"Are you certain this Dark Prince will definitely show up?" Sirius asked. He still wasn't convinced.

Harry looked at him with an odd expression.

"I've spent my whole life with Death Eaters. Trust me, he'll come. This is an opportunity too good to miss. He won't let my threat go to waste."

"When do you think he'll make an appearance?" Sirius asked. He didn't think he could lie to James and Remus for very long.

"Soon" Harry answered.

"How soon? Everyone is going to be leaving the day after tomorrow, if this doesn't work then…"

"I said, soon! This will work, trust me." Harry said again, this time with a little annoyance.

"Then until he shows up, I'm staying in here. I don't want to face anyone." Sirius said, leaning back to rest against the wall as well.

"May as well, me and Tonks are pretty much confined in here. What's the harm in you being here as well?" Harry said.

Sirius would have believed Harry was being genuine if he wasn't adept at picking up the subtle sarcasm in his voice.

"This wasn't my idea. You're the one to come up with this crazy plan." Sirius retorted.

"This 'crazy' plan is all we have and I told you two to disappear somewhere else! It would have been a lot better. You still have that choice. You and Tonks hide out at the Headquarters. It doesn't get used anyway." Harry suggested.

"It will after today." Sirius groused. "The Order will most likely be in the process of setting up a meeting to discuss how to catch you. I won't be surprised if I get summoned in the next hour."

"Just don't go." suggested Harry.

"I'll have to. Dumbledore won't take no for an answer." Sirius said with a groan. He quietened down for a few minutes and then added bitterly, "I hate this. I've never lied to James or Remus."

"You'll get over it!" Harry snapped at him, his patience was running thin. Sirius looked at him and felt a surge of guilt. Here he was complaining about lying to his best friends when Harry had to lie to his parents and brother.

"Sorry" he muttered quietly. Harry ignored him.

Harry surveyed the room and stared at the bare walls. He spoke after a few awkward minutes.

"You could have asked for a window at least." Harry said sulkily.

Sirius ignored him.

"Do you know the Minister has given a 'kill on sight' order regarding you?" Sirius asked. He knew this was going to happen. In fact it had been one of the things he had pointed out to discourage Harry from carrying out this plan.

Harry smiled and looked at Sirius.

"Didn't expect anything else from him." He answered. "Coward!" he added softly, thinking about the Minister.

They sat in silence again for a few minutes.

"Do you think Tonks will be able to pull of the disguise to come here?" Sirius asked, at this point he was just making conversation. It was unnerving to sit in silence.

"She pulled of playing dead. This should be a piece of cake." Harry answered tiredly.

Sirius had to agree with that. Tonks had really used everything she had into her performance. Being a Metamorphmagus it was simple for her to appear as if she were dead. Now masking your pulse so it couldn't be detected, that was difficult but somehow Tonks had done it.

"She is a good actress." Sirius said remembering how her skin had gone deathly pale and the way her lips were tinged with blue.

"Not a bad actor yourself." Harry said, looking intently at Sirius.

Instead of feeling good about the compliment, Sirius felt awfully guilty.

"James is going to kill us." he said quietly, picturing how his childhood friend was going to react when the truth was revealed.

"I know." Harry added with a whisper.

xxx

The following day found more chaos at Hogwarts. The news of Tonks' death had reached the media and the newspapers were filled with the outrage felt by the wizarding world. They all agreed that Hogwarts closing was a good idea. It sparked a lot more panic as the truth was revealed about Harry being able to break through powerful wards. Even Voldemort wasn't able to do that.

Majority of the people were glad that the Ministry had given a 'kill on sight' order. It was quoted as 'the best decision so far' regarding the Ministry. All were hungry for Harry's blood.

"Funny how they change opinion of Harry at the drop of a hat!" James seethed as he threw down the paper.

James scanned the Great Hall and saw that most students were hardly eating anything. Everyone was upset by the events of yesterday. Tonks had become quite popular when she came to teach the Duelling club. Her death and the fact that Hogwarts was once again closing had upset nearly everyone. James' eyes stopped at the empty seat which usually held Damien. His son was still curled up in his living quarter. He had spent the night with James and Lily. Damien was inconsolable. 'At least he's stopped crying' James thought to himself.

After breakfast, James headed towards his classroom to teach what would be the last lecture of Defence Against the Dark Arts. He felt the stab of irony as he entered the classroom. Him teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts when his own son was the one who used the Dark Arts. If ever the students he taught would ever use Defence, it would probably be against his son.

xxx

Ginny was sitting all alone on the roof of the Astronomy tower. It was evening and most of the students were busy packing all their belongings. They were leaving Hogwarts in the morning. Ginny was finding it hard to pack her things. She couldn't believe Hogwarts was closing again. Her thoughts raced back to when term started and the jokes Harry had made about not getting invited back to Hogwarts.

It seemed like that was years ago as opposed to months. Harry and her together, that would never happen again and it was perhaps that knowledge that made Ginny seek solitude. She had known that things between her and Harry were finished when he broke up with her but she had thought that she would at least get to see him around. She was hoping, as slight a chance as it may be, that Harry would forgive her one day and maybe they could together again.

A tear ran down her cheek at the thought of Tonks. She had been in her life for as long as she could remember. Being an Order member, she had been coming around to the Burrow since Ginny was a little girl. Losing her was like losing a family member. It hurt so much that it was Harry who was responsible for what happened to Tonks. There was no way she was the spy, working for the Dark Prince. Harry had killed her in mistake.

A sound behind her made Ginny snap out of her thoughts. She turned around to face the door, expecting to see either Ron or Hermione. It was more likely to be Hermione, coming to nag her about packing and why she was out here. They had been told not to leave their dormitories but Ginny couldn't stand the way everyone was talking about Harry so she had escaped out here.

It wasn't Hermione or Ron. Ginny squinted in the dark, trying to make out who was standing in the shadow of the door.

"Who is it?" Ginny asked.

She could see the silhouette of someone standing in the doorway but couldn't make out who it was. Ginny felt the air around her vanish as the figure stepped closer and the light washed over him. A man stepped into the light, dressed in black robes, his dark unruly locks falling around a face hidden behind a silver mask. It was the Dark Prince.

Ginny could hardly breathe. The sight completely took her breath away. Intense green eyes, so similar to Harry's, were locked on her and the hate in them was making Ginny's skin erupt in Goosebumps.

Ginny slowly got to her feet, her hand gripped tightly over her wand. One hundred and one thoughts were running in her mind. How did he get here? What was he going to do? How was she supposed to fight him? How could she call for help?

She kept her eyes fixed to the figure before her. She felt her heart summersault in her chest at how familiar he looked. He looked like Harry, the hair, the eyes, his height, body everything was just like Harry's. But he didn't _feel_ like Harry. Ginny could tell just by looking into his eyes. Harry's had looked at her plenty of times with hate and anger but even then they were never this cold.

Before Ginny could take a step back the figure reacted. He sent a disarming spell at her. Ginny reacted on instinct. Her full body shield, that Harry had taught her, came up at once, covering her from head to foot in a purple coloured bubble. Ginny was more surprised than anything. This was the first time she had done magic on instinct. The disarming spell hit the wall of the bubble and dissolved.

Ginny looked up to see an odd emotion flicker in the Dark Prince's eyes. It was gone in a second and the rage in those emerald eyes seemed to intensify. He raced towards her and Ginny had to let down the shield otherwise she wouldn't be able to move. She stumbled back and aimed her wand at him, thinking of a spell to say, to make him back away.

Before she could utter a single word, her wand was snatched from her. Ginny gasped as the burn appeared on her hand. He had sent a non verbal spell at her that made her hand burn. She saw her wand zooming towards the masked figure. He grabbed it and before her eyes he snapped it in two halves.

Ginny gasped at the sight as if in pain. He had snapped her wand! She felt horribly helpless without her wand, almost as if her hand been chopped off. She couldn't do anything but leap out of the way as a jet of green light came at her. Her heart was pounding in her chest, perspiration clinging to her forehead. She was going to die at the hands of the Dark Prince. But she couldn't die. She was only sixteen! It wasn't her time to die yet.

Ginny fell to the ground painfully as she jumped out of the way of another curse. She knew there was no point in yelling for help. No one would hear her from the Astronomy tower. She focused on the masked man towering over her.

The Dark Prince was about to send another non verbal curse at her but Ginny reacted before the curse was finished. She threw up her foot, focusing as much strength as she could and kicked him in the leg. The sudden attack caught the masked man off guard and he stumbled to the ground. Ginny made a mad dash towards the door. If she could get out of the tower she would have a chance.

She was only a few steps away when she heard a voice utter a curse behind her. She fell to the ground, a cord wrapped around her ankle, tripping her to the ground and pulling her back towards the enraged man.

Ginny scrambled wildly, trying to grab a hold of something that would stop her from being dragged. She was crying out loudly at the pain in her ankle. She ended up at his feet. The masked man leaned down and grabbed her by the hair. Ginny cried out in pain and tried to free herself but she only ended up causing herself more pain. The man pulled her up to her shaky feet and yanked her face close to his, so close that Ginny could see his eyes clearly. They were not Harry's eyes. Ginny would recognise Harry's eyes anywhere.

He dragged her to the edge of the roof. Ginny suddenly realised what he was going to do and in panic started fighting for release. She kicked and punched him as hard as she could but he didn't loosen his hold.

"Why are you doing this?" Ginny cried in desperation, tears leaking out of her eyes at the pain.

The Dark Prince tightened his grip in her hair, making her gasp out in pain.

"Because it would destroy him!" he hissed at her.

Ginny never expected him to answer her. She was surprised with the answer. He obviously meant Harry. He thought her death would affect Harry. Ginny found the air around her crackle with magic. She couldn't look away from the hate filled eyes. Suddenly he let go of her hair and in a swift move, before Ginny could do more than blink, he had picked her up and thrown her over the edge of the roof.

Ginny couldn't even scream. She saw the ground rushing up to meet her and all she could think about was that she was the only one to have heard the Dark Prince's voice and she wouldn't get the chance to tell anyone. She had proof Harry wasn't the Dark Prince but no one would know.

She closed her eyes just before the ground met her. She expected it to hurt, she expected to die as soon as she hit the ground. So she was very surprised when it felt like she had merely drifted the last few seconds to the ground. She opened her eyes to find herself lying on the ground quite comfortably.

Her panicked mind didn't quite take in what had happened. She looked up at the tower from which she had fallen. She could barely make out the figure standing at the top, staring down at her. She looked around herself to figure out who had saved her. It was apparent that someone had cast a spell to slow down her fall so the impact wouldn't kill her.

Suddenly the entire grounds were flooded with lights. For a moment everything was washed in blinding white light. Ginny brought up a hand to shield her eyes. When the lights faded to a more bearable level she looked around her and was shocked to see the entire population of Hogwarts standing in the grounds. All the students, from first year to seventh year were piled outside on the grass. All the Professors, including Professor Dumbledore were standing at the forefront. Ginny saw Charlie rushing over to her, fear in his eyes. He reached her in a few strides and gathered her in his arms.

James was only a few feet away from her. He tore his eyes away from the trembling Ginny and looked up at the figure standing on top of the Astronomy tower. Everyone had their eyes fixed on the masked figure standing on the roof. The mysterious rays of light suddenly swirled around and fixed themselves on the Dark Prince, almost like spotlights. Although he was still quite a distance away, the spotlights made him more visible.

James could see him clearly and what he saw made his heart leap painfully. He looked just like Harry. His hair, his green eyes shinning through the mask, his height, body shape, everything looked painstakingly similar to Harry.

The Dark Prince looked stunned by the spotlights and the whole of Hogwarts population staring up at him. He was obviously caught off guard. As he retreated from the edge of the roof, a few people including Aurors Moody and Kennedy ran towards the tower, trying to get to him. James knew it was pointless to try and fire any curses at him. They were too far away. The only chance they had was to reach him before he got away.

Suddenly the bright lights that were fixed on the masked man zoomed forward and hovered over the roof, illuminating the whole rooftop of the Astronomy tower. The Dark Prince flinched as the lights brought everyone's attention to him and his every move was clearly visible. He pointed his wand towards the lights, trying to get rid of them. When that didn't work he glared down at the mass staring up at him. He reached into his robes and pulled out a small object. Before everyone he pointed his wand at the object and enlarged it. James saw a broomstick in his hand. He was going to fly away and escape from here. James surged towards the doors, Remus by his side, following Moody and Kennedy's lead to try and get to him but stopped short as shouts of surprise rang around him.

He turned around and the sight nearly stopped his heart. Standing in a cleared part of the grounds was Sirius, holding his wand tightly in his hand, pointed at the tower. But it was the person standing next to him that was causing the uproar. Pointing a wand at the tower as well, stood a purple haired Tonks, looking very much alive and well.

Confusion and a deep sense of relief swept over James as he saw the Auror standing next to Sirius. He felt Remus by his side stiffen as if he had been petrified. He couldn't tear his eyes away from Tonks. But Sirius and Tonks didn't look away from the tower. It became clear that the lights hovering over the Dark Prince were being controlled by Sirius and Tonks.

The Dark Prince had stopped in his action of mounting his broom as the excited and surprised shouts had distracted him. Everyone was staring at Sirius and Tonks, including the Dark Prince. Both Aurors stepped to either side, revealing a third person standing behind them.

All the surprised yells and shouts died and an eerie silence engulfed them. It seemed like someone had turned down the volume. Standing next to Sirius and Tonks, his emerald gaze fixed on the masked figure, was Harry.

James felt his hair stand on end at the sight. Not only because he saw his son again but because of the expression he was wearing. His eyes had already darkened a few shades and the look of anger on his face was deeply reminiscent of a certain red eyed wizard.

Everything seemed to speed up after that. At the sight of Harry, the Dark Prince mounted his broom and prepared to leave. It was only then that James noticed the broom Harry was holding in his hand. Harry let out a growl before taking off, running towards the tower before effortlessly mounting his broom. He was at the rooftop in a matter of seconds.

James and the rest of Hogwarts watched in numbed terror as Harry collided with the Dark Prince's broom making him crash onto the rooftop again. Harry jumped off his own broom and faced the masked man. For a moment neither moved. Both stood glaring at each other. Both were so similar. Now that Harry was standing next to him, it looked like the person behind the mask was his twin. Their height was identical as were their visible features.

To everyone's surprise the Dark Prince pocketed his wand and turned to face Harry, his body portraying his calmness. He beckoned to Harry, gesturing for him to make the first move. Harry was only too happy to take up on the offer.

Dumbledore was shouting out instructions to the adults present but no one was listening to him. They were too engrossed in the fight happening on the rooftop. Harry kicked the Dark Prince but he was ready for it. He blocked Harry before crashing into him. Harry was back up on his feet in a second and sent a powerful punch to the masked man's face. Harry made to grab the mask but the Dark Prince blocked him again. The Dark Prince seemed to know how to fight like a muggle but wasn't as accomplished as Harry. He was losing as Harry continued to land punch after punch.

James could almost taste Harry's rage. He was completely engrossed in breaking every bone he could. The Dark Prince stumbled back from Harry after catching a kick to the face. His mask almost slipped but was recovered instantly. Harry recognised the workings of the 'stay put' spell. It wouldn't let the mask come off unless the spell was lifted.

The Dark Prince was on the ground and just as Harry made to kick him, he pulled out his wand and sent a cutting hex at Harry. It caught him in the arm but Harry hardly noticed. He reached over and grabbed the Dark Prince, wrestling his wand away from him.

Just then James heard shouts and looked over to see Moody and Kennedy rushing towards him.

"What happened?" James asked, his voice sounding strained to his own ears.

"The top of the staircase is blocked. We can't get rid of it!" Moody yelled, frustrated. His magical eye swivelled around to see Harry. "I could see him fighting at the top. He's winning!" he added in his gruff voice.

James turned back to watch as Harry made to grab the mask again. He was trying to undo the spell wandlessly but couldn't manage as he was concentrating on fighting him at the same time.

Suddenly the Dark Prince threw Harry off long enough to 'Accio' his broom. He mounted it and took off, earning a gasp from the students watching. Harry was on his tail a moment later. He was speeding up, his hand outstretched almost as if he was trying to grasp the golden snitch in a game of Quidditch. What he was actually doing was trying to direct his spells to the flying Dark Prince.

A hissed curse and suddenly the tail of the Dark Prince's broom caught fire. Harry smirked as the Dark Prince unsteadily made his way towards one of the rooftops of the main towers. He fell on the roof and put out the fire. Harry landed on the roof as well and was already attacking him. The mass of students and Professors on the ground ran to continue watching the fight. Moody, Kennedy and a few others ran inside the castle to try and get to the rooftop of the main tower.

"He can't get past the wards. They won't let him fly past Hogsmeade." Dumbledore told James.

James looked away from the battle to tell Dumbledore something when he saw Damien and Lily standing next to Ron and Hermione, their eyes glued to Harry. He had thought Damien was still inside with Lily.

James heard Dumbledore shout instructions to the others to accompany him to Hogsmeade in case the Dark Prince got away from Harry. It didn't look like that was necessary, judging from the ferocious battle happening on the rooftop.

Harry tried again to cancel out the 'stay put' spell so he could reveal the identity of the mysterious Dark Prince. But his opponent was making it very difficult. Harry blocked a bone breaking curse and leapt out of the way of a Crucio.

Harry was back on his feet and lunged at the man managing to grab a hold of the masked figure. He threw him down to the ground and slammed the man's wand holding hand to the ground repeatedly until his grip loosened and he lost his wand. Harry cancelled out the 'stay put' spell in a matter of seconds, now that he got a clear shot of him. His eyes were locked with a pair of identical eyes and had just reached towards the mask, to rip it off when things went disastrously wrong.

A jet of green light came at Harry from nowhere and he only just managed to narrowly avoid it. Both Harry and the Dark Prince had rolled out of the way of a green light, unmistakeably the killing curse. Harry looked up and saw the source. Ministry Aurors had appeared and were firing the killing curse at him from the adjacent tower.

Judging from the shouts and cries from below, the Aurors must have entered Hogwarts without anyone noticing. They fired another three jets of 'Avada Kedavra' at Harry which narrowly missed hitting him. Harry dodged the curses, ducking and throwing himself out of the way. He caught a glimpse of the Dark Prince mounting his broom.

Harry tried to stop him from leaving but was forced to duck as another round of curses came belting towards him. He looked up to see the masked man had already mounted his broom and was already a good distance away.

Harry had just managed to find shelter behind a stone gargoyle and had reached towards his broom, intending to 'Accio' it and follow the masked man when a jet of red light hit his Nimbus, blowing the broom apart. Nothing was left of it. Harry was forced to leap out of the way again as the Aurors were firing with vigour and had blown apart his shelter. The only spell they were casting at him was the killing curse. If only Harry could get a chance in between dodging the spells, he would cast his own killing curse and get rid of the foolish Aurors.

Suddenly the door at the far end burst open and five men piled onto the roof, Moody and Kennedy among them. They stopped the Aurors from firing the killing curse by blocking Harry, waving their arms and shouting that Harry was innocent, he hadn't killed Tonks.

Harry didn't care, as soon as the stream of curses stopped he leapt from behind the Aurors and ran towards the edge of the roof. He searched the skies frantically but there was no sight of the flying figure. He had gone. After everything Harry had risked and done, the Dark Prince had escaped and Harry was no better at discovering his identity.

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Okay, another long chapter for all of you, since I got so many reviews for the last chappie. Please Review for another quick update!! LOL! Cheers!!


	31. Aftermath

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks to all those who reviewed! I'm amazed that all you guys love Tonks!

I'm sorry about the lateness of the chapter, my PC is playing up and keeps crashing on me. I've used my sisters PC to update. I hope you all enjoy the chapter!!

**Chapter Thirty One**

It seemed that no one would sleep tonight. Even though all the students were sent to their beds, everyone knew none would sleep. Too much had happened in the last few days to allow much sleep.

First, Tonks appeared to have died at the hands of Harry. Then Hogwarts was closing early because of Harry's threat and the fact that he could manipulated the wards. Then the Dark Prince actually came to Hogwarts and nearly killed Ginny Weasley! How he managed to get to Hogwarts no one could figure out. Then, the most amazing part of it all, Tonks suddenly made an appearance, looking very much alive, alongside Harry who nearly unmasked the so called Dark Prince but was stopped at the last possible moment by Aurors, trying to kill him. It was all rather dramatic.

The Aurors that had tried to kill Harry were currently waiting in the Great Hall. They refused to leave until the got a direct order from the Minister. They were told to stay out of the way as it had taken five people to keep Harry from killing them. The Aurors were eternally grateful for Dumbledore's intervention. He had somehow managed to restrain Harry otherwise the very last thing they would have seen would have been the bright green light coming out from the end of Harry's wand.

The 'Dark Prince wannabe' was gone. Dumbledore and a few Aurors had rushed to Hogsmeade but there was no sign of him. He seemed to have sneaked away before anyone could get to him.

The students walked slowly to their beds, shooting sympathetic and envious looks at Ginny, the only student that was accompanying the rest to Professor Dumbledore's office. What wouldn't the other students give to find out what was going to happen inside that office?

xxx

The door closed behind Sirius and he turned to stare at the other occupants. Dumbledore had already walked to his desk and was standing behind it. James and Lily were standing on one side of the room while Tonks and Harry stood on the other side. Charlie had helped his sister into a chair and was standing next to her, protectively. Remus stood in the middle, looking quite lost. Sirius sighed and readied himself to do a lot of explaining.

The first person to speak was Dumbledore.

"Everyone, please take a seat." He said while conjuring enough seats for everyone.

They all sat down, except for Harry. He chose to remain standing. He wasn't quite calm enough to sit down at the moment. He stood, leaning slightly on the wall behind him, his eyes diverted from everyone.

"I think a thorough explanation is in order." Dumbledore said rather coldly after few awkward silent minutes.

Sirius looked up at Harry and then looked at Tonks. She met his gaze and shrugged her shoulders. They both were trying to figure out who was to do the explaining. It was Harry's idea and he had literally blackmailed them into helping him, but he wasn't going to be doing the explaining. That much was clear from his expression. He was still caught up in how he had failed. He was furious at the Aurors for ruining his plan.

Nervously, Sirius cleared his throat. He looked straight at Dumbledore, not daring to even look at James, Lily or Remus.

"I think I should start at the beginning." He said quietly but every eye turned to him regardless, except Harry's. Sirius started to explain what had happened, his mind racing back two days ago, when Harry had been left with him and Tonks.

_(Flashback)_

Sirius closed the door after James, Lily and Remus left to meet with Dumbledore. Harry sat down on the sofa, his head bowed, a look tiredness on his face. Sirius sighed and went over to sit with him. Harry had not spoken to anyone since last night. Tonks was sitting on the bed, looking uncomfortably at Harry. She wanted to approach him and ask how he was but felt silly for asking such a question. It was obvious Harry was not alright. How could he be alright after what happened last night?

Sirius sat next to Harry and tentatively put an arm around him.

"How are you doing?"

Harry didn't answer but stiffened a little at the contact so Sirius moved his arm away. Harry still wasn't comfortable with physical contact and Sirius didn't blame him. Sirius still suffered nightmares remembering the abuse Harry had suffered when he was only a few years old.

"Are you alright?" Tonks asked, coming over to sit opposite him.

"No, I'm not alright." Harry answered quietly.

"We'll figure out who planted Nagini in your bed, Harry. I promise you." Sirius whispered.

Harry slowly turned his head to look at Sirius, his eyes taking in the older man's face.

"Just like you figured out who this Dark Prince is?" he asked.

Sirius felt like he had been slapped. He stared at Harry and saw the suppressed rage flicker in his eyes.

"It's not like we haven't been trying, Harry. We've been doing our best." He said defensively.

"Well, your best isn't good enough, is it?" Harry said harshly.

"That's not fair, Harry." Tonks said at once. "You can't say that. You don't know how hard all of us are working to get to him."

Harry threw her a scornful look before adding, "Yeah, I haven't forgotten how hard _Aurors_ work."

Sirius gave Tonks a warning look. Harry was obviously still really upset. It wasn't right to take anything he said to heart.

"Harry, I know that things have been awful lately but I promise that we won't rest until we find this 'Dark Prince'. I swear it!" Sirius promised vehemently.

Harry looked at him closely. His unyielding gaze was making Sirius feel very uneasy. Finally Harry got to his feet and started pacing, reminding Sirius strongly of James.

"I'm tired of waiting! I'm tired of waiting for _someone_ else to get him. I'm tired of sitting around and not doing anything!" Harry said from between clenched teeth.

Both Sirius and Tonks were staring at Harry as he paced the length of the room.

"Harry, I know you're upset but you have to understand that there isn't anything you can do." Tonks tried to explain.

Harry spun around to face Tonks. His eyes filled with determination.

"There's a lot I can do." Harry growled at her. "I know of a way I can get to him. But I can't do it on my own. I need help." Harry looked pointedly at the two Aurors sitting before him.

"What do you have in mind?" Sirius asked, intrigued.

Harry looked over at Tonks.

"Can you play dead?" he asked her.

Tonks looked between Harry and Sirius, lost for words.

"Excuse me?" she asked at last.

"Can you play dead?" Harry repeated.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"I need you to pretend that you're dead." Harry answered calmly.

"But why?" Tonks asked.

"Because I need everyone to believe that I killed you."

Silence met the end of Harry's words. Both Aurors were looking at Harry as if he were mad.

"Harry, go lie down." Sirius instructed, pointing at the bed.

"Let me explain." Harry started.

"No, you don't have to explain anything. You're obviously still in shock and are not thinking straight. Go lie down." Sirius said again.

"Sirius, listen to me!" Harry said through clenched teeth. Sirius complied but continued to look tiredly at him. "I know how it sounds but this is the only thing that will work."

"How is me pretending to be dead going to lead us to the Dark Prince?" Tonks asked.

"I need to make everyone think that I've completely lost it…"

"You're not off the mark there." Sirius commented quietly. Harry continued, ignoring him.

"…I need to pretend that I killed you because I thought you were a traitor." Tonks let out a surprised and indignant huff but Harry pushed on. "The Ministry will jump at the chance to arrest me. I know that oaf of a Minister has been dreaming of arresting me since last year."

Sirius stood up, not able to take anymore of this.

"You've lost it! How is getting arrested going to lead us to the Dark Prince!?" he yelled.

"I never said that I would be arrested. I said that the Ministry will jump at the _chance_ to arrest me. I'll escape from Hogwarts before they manage to arrest me."

"How would you do that?" Tonks asked, not able to keep back her curiosity.

"By disapparating." Harry answered as if it were the simplest of things.

"How are you going to disapparate from Hogwarts!? No one can apparate or disapparate, the wards won't let you. You really need to lie down, Harry. You obviously can't think straight. I understand how you're feeling after what happened yesterday but…" Sirius' words died in his throat as Harry gave him an irritated look before disappearing with a pop.

Tonks was on her feet in seconds. Both Aurors stood with their mouths hanging open. Harry had disapparated! But that wasn't possible, not when inside Hogwarts. Without saying a word to each other both of them tried to disapparate as well, thinking maybe the wards were down. Both felt the familiar block as the wards stopped them.

Sirius and Tonks were still gaping at each other when Harry reappeared, a smirk on his face.

"Shall I continue?" he asked.

Sirius and Tonks both sat down wordlessly and nodded. Harry explained the rest of his plan. By the end of it both Sirius and Tonks were sitting with their mouths hanging open.

"But, Harry, how can you be so sure that this 'Dark Prince' will come to Hogwarts?" Tonks asked, looking quite pale at the sound of Harry's plan.

"Think about it. All the attacks that have happened have been done under my disguise. This person is trying to frame me for all his attacks. He wants me to be arrested by the Ministry. I know for certain there is a spy working for him in Hogwarts." Harry held up his hand to quieten the two as they opened their mouths in obvious protest. "After last night, it's certain that someone here is helping the Dark Prince. How else would he have known that I was sleeping in the dungeons and not my dorm? He must have found out about the sleeping spell that I was under. I need to carry out my plan in front of the whole of Hogwarts to ensure that the spy sees me and reports back that I've run away after committing murder. Like I told you, before disapparating I'll make sure to threaten everyone in Hogwarts. It would be too good an opportunity to miss. I leave Hogwarts, showing clearly that I can come back anytime as I can manipulate the wards and I threaten to kill whoever is helping the Dark Prince. He will see this as a great opportunity and will come to Hogwarts and attack the first person he sees, just to frame me."

"That's the other thing! We can't risk someone else's life like that!" Tonks cried at once.

"We won't. I have that planned as well." Harry said while taking a piece of parchment out of his pocket. He showed it to them.

"The map!" Sirius exclaimed, recognising the map he had co invented.

"Exactly!" Harry said. "It will show us everyone that comes onto Hogwarts grounds. That way we can stop any attacks from happening and catch him in the act. Even if something goes wrong, we'll have his name at the very least."

"How long have you been planning this?" Tonks asked, caught in between being impressed and conflicted.

"Since this morning." Harry answered.

"Harry, I don't know about this. Your plan is too risky. Too many things can go wrong. The Ministry has been looking for a reason to get you. I don't think it's safe to mess with them like this. Fudge will probably give a 'kill on sight' order on you. Not to mention that Tonks and I can get into a lot trouble with the Ministry as well for lying to them." Sirius said worriedly.

Harry turned to face Sirius, his eyes fixed unwavering on his face.

"You once said to me that you were my Godfather above everything else. Your Godson is asking for your help today. Will you help me?"

Sirius didn't know how to respond to that. He let out a sigh, before nodding his head. Against his better judgement, he was going to help Harry.

"Tonks?" Harry said, turning to her. Tonks looked at Harry for a moment. A strange emotion flickered over her face.

"Why do you want me to help you? A few days ago you said you didn't know me well enough to even feel comfortable with. All of a sudden you want my help? What made you ask me for help?" she asked, a note of hurt in her voice.

Harry stared hard at her.

"Because you're a Metamorphmagus." He replied simply. "You're the only one who can play dead convincingly."

"Wrong answer, Harry." Tonks commented dryly.

"Look, you're the only one who can help me with this. I need your help. Either you give it to me or you tell me 'no' straight up. What is it going to be?"

Tonks took a few minutes to answer, making Harry shift uncomfortably.

"I'm with you. You might not be comfortable with me but I sincerely care about you. If doing this will help to get to the person trying to hurt you, then I'll help you in whatever way possible."

Harry couldn't help the grateful smile that came at that answer. His plan couldn't work without Tonks.

"So when do we do this." Sirius asked.

"Now"

"Now?" Tonks asked, looking nervous.

"We don't have a lot of time. Hogwarts will be closing in two weeks but I think dad is going to pull me out of here sooner. Maybe even by tomorrow. We need to act now." Harry explained.

"What about Remus? I need to tell him about this." Tonks said worriedly.

"Yeah, and does James and Lily know about this?"

"I can't tell them." Harry answered.

"Harry…" Sirius started.

"They won't let me do this! I know they won't." Harry cut him off.

Tonks, Sirius and Harry argued over letting James and Lily know about the plan but Harry didn't relent.

"At least let me tell Remus." Tonks pleaded.

"I can't. He won't let us go ahead with this either. In any case, the less people that know about this the better. It has a better chance at succeeding."

"But Remus will think I'm dead!" Tonks said.

"Maybe that's a good thing. Everyone has learnt about you two dating. The spy will probably watch Remus closely for his reaction. If Remus thinks you're dead for real, he'll react better than if he knows it's all an act." Harry explained

After much arguing and pleading, Tonks and Sirius gave in, feeling apprehensive about Harry's plan.

"How are we going to alert everyone of my death?" Tonks asked, while lying down on the ground in a spread eagle pose. "There's something I thought I would never say." She commented with a nervous chuckle.

Harry took out his wand and with his other hand he levitated it to point at himself.

"Harry?" Sirius asked, eyeing the wand warily.

"An Unforgivable will set off the alarms." He said quietly.

Both Tonks and Sirius felt their hearts plummet to their stomachs.

"Harry! You can't! The Ministry…" Tonks started.

"I don't give a damn about the Ministry!" Harry spat angrily. "I'll do anything to get to that bastard who killed Nagini!"

Thinking about the mangled mess that was Nagini when he found her, Harry closed his eyes and concentrated on his wand.

"Cancel out my wand when the alarms go off." He said to Sirius, who only nodded his head, eyeing the wand with a precautious glare.

Harry took a deep breath before casting Imperius on himself. The spell cancelled after a few seconds. Harry shook his head to clear it. He could throw off the curse himself but wanted to save the precious few seconds he had.

He opened his eyes to see Tonks already lying in position. Her face had gone pale and death like. Her lips tinged slightly blue, her eyes closed. Harry turned to face Sirius, he was already heading out the door.

"You have to act like I killed her. Don't hold back, okay?" Harry said before standing over Tonks, his wand was already safely tucked in Sirius' pocket.

Sirius nodded before leaving the room, tears coming to his eyes. He wasn't acting, the tears were real, at seeing what Harry was forced to do in order to catch the Dark Prince.

"I hope this is worth it. I hope we get that bastard!" he muttered to himself as he saw Moody and Kennedy rushing towards him.

_(End Flashback)_

The room rang with silence as Sirius finished. Harry was still staring at the ground while Tonks sat, trying to get eye contact with Remus. James and Lily along with Dumbledore were silent, not knowing what to say.

"Did you observe the map? Do we have a name?" Dumbledore asked finally.

Sirius threw Harry a strange look before taking out the map.

"We did but there was a problem."

James looked up at him sharply as did Remus. The map was flawless, nothing could fool the map. What could possibly be wrong?

"What problem did you have?" Dumbledore asked.

"We tried watching the map but we couldn't keep watch over all of the castle, especially as we didn't know who we were looking for. It was impossible to keep a track of everyone, so I did a spell on the map, one that would highlight everyone that was already present inside the castle, all the students and Professors of Hogwarts. That way it would be easier to detect a newcomer. But it sort of backfired." Sirius said in a small voice.

"How?" Lily asked.

"The spell worked but it caused all the names to be abbreviated to initials. I couldn't get the spell to work and show the full names." Sirius explained.

"But did you get the initials of this Dark Prince?" Charlie asked, excitement clear in his voice.

"Yes" Sirius looked at Dumbledore glad that he had something positive come from this whole ordeal. "It came up as C.B."

"C.B.?" Dumbledore confirmed.

"Yes, but I regret I couldn't change the map back. I tried, but it seems to be stuck in that format." He told them regretfully. "I was planning on lifting he spell the moment we detected the Dark Prince's presence so we could reveal his identity but I couldn't do it. The initials are all we have." He dutifully informed.

"It is a lot more than we had to start with." Dumbledore responded. "However, I cannot express the disappointment I feel that the three of you took such a risk. All three of you will be targeted by the Ministry. You should have at the very least come to me. You put my school and my students at great risk." Dumbledore said with anger clear in his tone.

Sirius stole a glance at James and saw that his best friend was standing with his jaw clenched tightly, his eyes fixed on a spot above everyone else' heads. He knew that meant he was beyond mad. He was livid.

Ginny was still trembling. The fact she came so near to death was making her feel very sick. He looked at her Headmaster and opened her mouth to tell him what she was desperate to say.

"Professor?" Dumbledore looked at her and his expression softened.

"Yes, Miss Weasley?"

"I, I need to tell you that I…he spoke to me." She stuttered.

Everyone's focus shifted to her.

"He spoke to you. What did he say?" Dumbledore asked in interest.

Ginny told them what the Dark Prince had hissed venomously in her ear before throwing her from the roof. She hadn't dared look at Harry while speaking. Once she finished she chanced a glance. Harry was looking quite pale but had his head bowed so she couldn't read his expression.

"I wish to examine that memory of yours at a later date." Dumbledore said. Ginny nodded her agreement. "Perhaps we have more gain due to this incident than I first thought. We have his initials and perhaps from his voice we could gather more clues to reveal his identity. " Dumbledore commented.

"Sir?" Ginny asked again. "How did you, I mean, how did all of Hogwarts end up outside?"

Dumbledore looked over at Tonks and a small smile flickered over his face.

"I saw Auror Tonks' patronus outside my window. I can recognise her form. As soon as I saw the silver Chameleon hover outside my window I knew Tonks was alive. No two people can have the same patronus form. I ordered my staff to accompany me. My guess is that hearing the commotion outside, the students took it upon themselves to investigate and joined us on the grounds. They probably thought it was safer to stay with the Professors."

Ginny nodded her head. She looked over at Harry's silent form but he wasn't looking in her direction.

Before anyone could say anymore there was a commotion heard coming from outside. The next moment the door to Dumbledore's office was thrown open and ten Aurors piled into the room, flanking the Minister. Everyone in the room stared for a moment as Fudge's searching gaze swept around the room before settling on Harry. His face contorted with either fear or rage, or perhaps both. He pointed a finger towards Harry and yelled at his Aurors.

"Kill him!" At once the Aurors, all ten of them pointed their wands at Harry and prepared to say the killing curse.

Everything happened at once. Before anyone could finish the killing curse Sirius, Remus Tonks, James and Lily had all rushed forward and in an instant shielded Harry, their own wands drawn and pointed at the Aurors. Charlie had drawn his wand also but didn't move from his sister's side. The killing curses that were aimed at Harry were diverted away by the Aurors at seeing their fellow Aurors standing in front of their target. A bright green flash hit the ground just beside Dumbledore's desk, singeing the expensive carpet.

Harry was trying to push them out of the way. Not because he was trying to be brave but because he was trying to get to the idiot Minister so he could kill him by his bare hands. Dumbledore shot to his feet and in moments the situation had calmed down.

"EVERYONE! LOWER YOUR WANDS!"

Everyone complied but no one put away their wands. They were still held in their hands but not aimed at anyone.

"Minister! I would have to ask you to refrain from ordering any attacks before listening to all the facts." Dumbledore told the man in a commanding voice.

The Minister didn't respond to him. He was keeping a careful eye on Harry as he struggled to get past Sirius and his dad to get to him.

"You idiot!" Harry spat at him, while trying to get out of his dad's iron grip.

"Look here, you…you…!" the Minister stuttered at Harry.

"You ruined everything! I would have had him if it wasn't for your blasted Aurors!" Harry yelled cutting him off.

"I…had who? What are you…?"

"The Dark Prince! The one killing _your_ people!" Harry yelled again, lashing out at James now as he kept pushing Harry back.

"The Dark…? But that's you!" Fudge retorted, confusedly.

"At one time yes, but not now you dimwit!" Harry snarled at him.

"Harry! That's enough!" James yelled trying to stop Harry from getting himself in more trouble.

The Minister looked around the room, as if trying to see who would help him against Harry, or at least explain what he was talking about. It was then that his eyes settled on Tonks. The Minister's eyes widened with shock. He obviously hadn't noticed her until now as he was too busy trying to get Harry.

"Auror Tonks! I…What is going on here?!" he asked going quite pale.

Dumbledore took over by standing before the Minister.

"Minister, I suggest you take a seat. James, I think it's best if you take Harry and go to your quarter. Charlie, I suggest Miss Weasley visits Madame Pomfrey." Dumbledore said giving Ginny a hand to help her to her feet.

Fudge was left looking flabbergasted as Dumbledore opened the door for Harry to leave along with his parents.

"But…but he has an arrest warrant issued against him…" he started.

"For a crime he didn't commit." Dumbledore finished looking pointedly towards Tonks.

Fudge looked at Tonks before looking away, as if it were too painful to look at her.

"How do we know she is the real Tonks? This could be anyone under a disguise!" he spat.

"I assure you she is the real Nymphadora Tonks. I have seen her patronus." Dumbledore said.

"But, but he cast an Unforgivable!" Fudge said, seemingly to have just remembered that fact.

"He cast it on himself so the alarms would be set off. If you give me a minute, I will explain everything to you." Dumbledore said in a voice that gave no room for argument.

That seemed to take the wind out of Fudge. He sat down in the chair behind him, his eyes still fixed to Dumbledore, a look of defeat on his face.

Charlie was leading Ginny out of the door first, James and Lily dragging a glowering Harry behind them. Ginny stopped as she passed the Headmaster.

"Sir?"

"Yes, Miss Weasley?" Dumbledore turned to her.

"I just wanted to say, thank you for saving my life. If you hadn't done that spell to slow me down, I wouldn't have survived." Ginny said, making an effort to smile at him.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled for a moment before he replied in a soft voice.

"My dear, I am sorry to say that it was not I that saved you. I'm afraid I wasn't quick enough."

Ginny looked at him confusedly. She had just assumed that he was the one to have slowed down her fall.

"But if you didn't cast that spell then who…" she trailed off as she caught sight of Harry, standing behind Dumbledore. Harry knew what they were talking about and looked away as Ginny met his eyes, his expression softened and a look of unease took over his features.

Ginny felt her mouth dry up. Harry had saved her. How many times was that now? Before she could work up the strength to say anything, Charlie was pulling her gently out the door, leading her away from the office and towards the hospital wing.

James led Harry out as well, trying to get Harry as far away from the Minister and his Aurors as possible. It was out of fear that Harry would literally kill them. They walked in silence, heading towards their quarter. It was already late into the night, but as far as James was concerned, there was still a lot of explaining to do.

xxx

The first thing Harry saw as he walked into his dad's living quarters was Damien. He was standing next to the fireplace, both hands clasped behind him. He looked up as soon as they walked in. James and Lily seemed surprised by his presence.

"Damien? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in your dorm?" Lily asked, her voice shaking a little at the exhaustion she was suffering.

Damien kept his eyes fixed on Harry, there was something odd in his eyes. He was looking at Harry in a mixture of relief and extreme anger.

"I needed to know what was going on." He said in a tight voice.

James and Lily told him everything about how Harry, Sirius and Tonks had played all of them to catch out the Dark Prince. Damien stayed standing throughout the retelling. Harry was standing as well, unable to sit even though he was beyond exhausted.

Harry kept his gaze fixed to his younger brother, he knew what he must be going through. He hated lying to him but it was necessary. As soon as James was finished, Damien looked up from him and stared angrily at Harry.

Before Harry could open his mouth Damien bolted towards him and punched him hard in the face. Harry stumbled back a step, caught completely off guard by the sudden attack.

"Damien!" James yelled before rushing to his feet. Damien however wasn't listening to him. His focus was fixed on Harry as he recovered.

"You jerk!" he screamed at Harry.

Harry didn't retaliate. His face burned at the spot Damien had hit him but he kept his fists curled tightly in balls and at his sides. He should have guessed that Damien would be this upset.

James and Lily had reached Damien and pulled him away from Harry, in case he hit him again or that Harry retaliated.

"Get a hold of yourself!" James told the infuriated boy.

"Why? Why should I? Why should I care about him when he obviously doesn't care about us!?" Damien yelled as he glared at Harry.

"Damien, don't speak like that." Lily said, barely holding back her own tears.

"Why Harry? Why did you do it?" Damien asked, ignoring his mum and pulling out of his dad's grip.

Harry faced him as calmly as he could. His patience had been tested to its limit today and frankly, he couldn't put up with much more.

"Damien…" James started.

"Why didn't you tell us what you were planning? Why did you keep us in the dark? Did you not consider what we would go through watching you run away like that?! Did you spare even a single thought about us? Did you?!"

Harry was biting down on his tongue to keep from yelling at Damien. The rational part of him was telling him that Damien was just angry and wasn't quite aware of what he was saying.

The door behind Harry opened and Tonks and Sirius walked inside, both wearing fatigued expressions. Sirius saw the look Damien was wearing and a guilty expression appeared on his face.

"Pup, listen…"

No! I don't want to hear it! I don't need your excuses." He turned to face Harry once more. "I want to hear your explanation."

"Everything has already been explained to you." Harry stated as calmly as he could.

"No one had explained why you felt the need to hide the truth from us, from me." Damien's expression changed to one that conveyed how scared and hurt he was. "You don't know what it felt like to watch you run away like that. To think that you were once again going to be hunted until killed! Why did you not tell us, tell me? I never thought you would keep something as big as this from me!"

"I can say the same for you." Harry replied coldly.

Damien was speechless. He staggered back as if he had suffered a physical blow.

"Oh God, Harry! I can't do this. I can't have the same argument with you over and over again! I said sorry about a thousand times! And in any case, that situation was totally different! I only kept the drugging incident from you because I thought you wouldn't be able to deal with it. I was only looking out for you!"

"You kept the truth from me because you didn't trust me. You didn't trust my actions. Maybe I kept the truth about my plan from you because I don't trust you at all!" Harry shouted at him, the last of his patience gone.

Damien stared at Harry, he didn't know how to respond to that. Without saying another word, he turned and walked out of the room, leaving the rest behind in awkward silence. Harry didn't mean what he said but he had had enough with everyone. He said what he knew must hurt and wasn't sorry about it. Not at this precise moment anyway.

Tonks looked around the room. James and Lily were looking angrily at Harry and Sirius. She felt very awkward in the midst of this. She thought it was bad explaining everything to the Minister, but this was so much worse. Her eyes scanned the room once more and found that Remus was missing.

"I need to go and find Remus." She told the room at large. She didn't think anyone heard her for all the response he got.

She hurriedly left the room, setting out to find Remus and sort out the anger he must be feeling. The door closed with a soft click. That was the only sound in the room. The four people stood in the middle of the room in angry silence. Finally Lily spoke.

"Is the Minister gone?"

"Yes, he's gone. He's taken the Aurors with him." Sirius answered.

Lily nodded her head but didn't say anymore. She looked just as angry as James. Sirius knew this was how they were going to react but it still hurt him that his best friends wouldn't even look at him.

"Prongs…"

"Don't!" James hissed at him, still not making eye contact. "Don't call me that!"

"I'm sorry-" he tried to say again but was cut off.

"Sorry! You're sorry? For what? For making me live my worst nightmare again?" James seethed. Sirius didn't know where to look. He bowed his head and took the abuse. "From everyone, you know the ordeal I went through last year! You knew how this would affect me but you still let me believe that Harry was gone. You kept the truth from me! Why?" he demanded.

Sirius looked over at Harry but didn't say anything. That was all it took for James to start with Harry.

"And you!" he rounded on him. "When in Merlin's name are you going to learn that you're not alone anymore? That you don't have to take extreme risks? When are you going to let me and your mum help you?! You took such an absurd risk and gambled with your safety and all for what? Why didn't you let me handle this? The Ministry and the Order are all working to catch this guy. Why didn't you stay out of it and let them to their job!?" James asked, his face growing redder by the minute.

"Five months." Harry stated.

"What?" James asked, thrown by Harry's words.

"It's been over five months since this new Dark Prince started attacking and in all that time what is that you have learned about him? What have you and your _Ministry_ and your _Order_ all put together got on him? Nothing. You haven't got anything. I sat back for five months, waiting for you or an Auror to catch him, to stop him from killing innocents but nothing happened! I depended on you and what happened? The bastard got to my room and could have killed me in my sleep!" Harry spat in fury.

"No one could have anticipated that attack, Harry. Everyone thought Hogwarts was the safest place." Lily said from besides James.

"I thought I proved exactly how safe Hogwarts was last year." Harry told her icily.

James bristled as the comment brought back awful memories. He could still see Harry's hateful glare fall on him seconds before he took Bella's hand and disapparated to return to Voldemort.

"I just had enough! I couldn't sit back and just wait! I thought that maybe I wouldn't have to get involved but it seems futile to have thought like that! He was targeting me! All the attacks carried out were meant to frame me. What happened to Nagini, that was a personal attack! I wasn't going to wait around for another attack like that!" Harry spat angrily.

"There could have been a better way to catch him. Jeopardising your own safety while trying to catch him doesn't sound too smart to me." James said harshly.

"Smart or not, it still got him here." Harry responded.

"Harry! You were almost killed tonight! Any one of those Aurors could have hit you!" Lily exclaimed, not able to keep quiet any longer.

"But they didn't. That should be enough." Harry replied.

"You should have told us." James said quietly. He was addressing both Harry and Sirius. "You should have planned this all out including me and Remus. Do you have any idea what he was going through?" he asked.

"I wanted to tell you but…" Sirius said.

"But what!? You didn't because Harry asked you not to? Is that it? You should have known better! Not only did you risk Harry's life, you risked Tonks' and your own job as well. You can bet your promotion is taken away after this stunt!" James yelled.

"Promotion? What promotion?" Harry asked looking at Sirius.

"It's nothing." Sirius said with a warning look at James.

Harry didn't say anything more on the subject but his demeanour changed instantly. He had figured out what the truth was and suddenly he seemed too tired to argue with anyone anymore.

"James, I know how you must be feeling. I'm sorry, really I am but we saw this as an opportunity and we had to take it." Sirius explained.

"It was a risky plan and a lot could have gone wrong." James hissed, bringing up mental images of what would have happened if Harry was hit by one of the Aurors.

"The plan was fine and it would have worked perfectly if it wasn't for those Aurors!" Harry said, still feeling the burn of anger at the thought of the imbecile Aurors.

"Why didn't you talk to us about your plan?" Lily asked. It seemed they couldn't let this go.

"Because I knew you would have disagreed with it and would probably have tried to stop me." Harry answered tiredly.

"That's not true and you know it." James said, looking Harry straight in the eye. "You didn't tell us for the simple reason that you didn't trust us. You only told Sirius and Tonks because you needed them. You used them. You didn't have a need for me, your mum and Damien, so you didn't bother telling us anything. After all this time and everything we've been through, you still don't think of us as your family. You don't see the need to include us in important matters and tonight proved this!"

Harry looked James in the eye as well, the last of his patience and rational thinking evaporated.

"Think what you want. If that's what you believe then so be it."

With that, Harry turned and walked out of the door. It seemed his last day at Hogwarts was going to be spent in the Room of Requirement. Sirius gave James a sad look before turning and following Harry as well.

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I told you guys all the relationships were headed for a rollercoaster ride! What did you think? Please review. I had to take over my sisters PC to complete this so please review and tell me what you thought of it. I need all the inspiration!! Cheers!!


	32. Family issues

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks for all the reviews! Here's the next chappie, Enjoy!!

**Chapter Thirty Two**

Harry paced the floor in the Room of Requirement. He couldn't settle. The conversation with his mum and dad went horribly wrong, his meeting with Damien couldn't have been worse and to top it all off, he still wasn't any closer to figuring out the identity of the Dark Prince. So everything he had done and just went through was pointless. Sirius watched him silently from his chair. He didn't have anything comforting to say. The only thing that was coming to him was 'I told you so'. He didn't think Harry would want to hear that.

The door opened and a dejected looking Tonks came inside. She looked at Harry and Sirius and didn't even try to smile. Sirius felt his heart break for her. It looked like her conversation with Remus went as well as Harry and James'.

"Hey Tonks." Sirius greeted warmly.

Tonks didn't reply. She walked inside and threw herself into the chair next to Sirius. She hid her face behind her hands and tried to compose herself.

"I take it Remus was mad." Sirius asked. Tonks looked up at him, her eyes rimmed red.

"He didn't even talk to me. I tried to explain what happened but he doesn't want to hear it. He just sat there and gave me the silent treatment. The only thing he said in the two hours I spent with him was 'You should have told me' even though I explained why I couldn't!" Tonks told him emotionally.

"That seems to be the general comment." Sirius told her.

Harry was ignoring the other two. He couldn't think about them and how he had ruined their relationships as well as his own. If only he had caught the damned Dark Prince impersonator! Then at least he would have succeeded and all this would have been a lot easier to handle.

"Harry?"

Harry looked over to see Tonks looking intently at him.

"What?" Harry asked when he realised Tonks and Sirius were waiting for some sort of answer from him.

"I asked how things went with your parents?"

"Brilliant! That's why I'm spending my last night here!" Harry snapped back.

"Don't yell at me! I'm only asking." Tonks answered back sharply.

"Don't ask stupid questions then!" Harry hissed back.

"Harry, don't make things worse than they are. No one else is going to be talking to us three so let's not fall out with each other as well." Sirius said in a low voice.

Harry glowered at Sirius.

"Everything would have worked out if it wasn't for those Aurors! I should have just killed the lot of them!" He seethed.

"I can't believe he got away." Tonks said as she shook her head. "I don't think everyone would be as mad at us if we had caught him. At least it would be the end to this nightmare."

Harry and Sirius silently agreed with her. Most likely, James, Lily and Remus would probably still be furious but they would have acknowledged that success of their plan. But the Dark Prince had escaped and they were no closer to finding out who he was and why he was targeting Harry.

"At least we know something about him. We have his initials." Tonks offered as consolation.

"A lot of good that is!" Harry said with a glare at Sirius.

"It's something." Sirius answered, getting tired of Harry's attitude.

"I told you not to mess around with the map! I told you to leave it alone. If you had then we would have learnt his name and not be stuck with useless initials!" Harry yelled.

"There was no way we could have spotted him!" Sirius yelled back, unable to stop himself.

"Look, we may not have succeeded in catching him but this wasn't a complete waste of time. At least now everyone saw that you aren't the Dark Prince. The Minister can't frame you for anymore attacks and neither can the Dark Prince, that's something." Tonks told Harry.

"Tonks is right, Harry. At least your name's been cleared." Sirius added. "We have his initials, it's something. I'm sure we'll get more clues and soon we'll have him figured out."

Harry didn't say anything right away. He turned to look at Sirius and Tonks, his eyes clouded with aggravation.

"I don't know why but…I can't explain it, but I feel like I know him. He felt…familiar but I don't know why." Harry told them. This was the reason he was so quiet up until now. He was trying to figure out why the Dark Prince impostor seemed familiar.

"Um, maybe you didn't notice but he looked just like you. Maybe that's why he seemed familiar." Sirius said in an almost sarcastic way.

Harry threw him an annoyed look.

"So he's definitely a Death Eater then? That's why he seems familiar to you? You've probably met him before." Tonks asked, excitedly.

"I don't know. I can't pinpoint what it is about him that seems familiar. It's like when you see someone but can't remember their name or where you know them from. It's so frustrating!" Harry hissed and took to pacing the floor again.

"Harry, do you know how much you look like James when doing that." Sirius had to say it out loud. It was annoying him for so long now.

Harry opened his mouth to answer but a sound behind him stopped him. He spun around to see the door smashing open and Malfoy came crashing inside, holding onto someone.

"Malfoy?!" Harry started in surprise.

The blond Slytherin was struggling to keep a hold on the boy next to him. His wand was pointed at the skinny boy's neck but that wasn't stopping him from trying to escape. Harry was more than surprised to see Nott trying to get out of Draco's grip.

Tonks and Sirius had joined Harry and were pointing their wands at Nott as well to stop him from fighting back.

"What is going on?" Tonks asked.

Nott's eyes widened when he saw the two Aurors standing next to Harry. All his strength left him and he stopped struggling.

"Guess who I caught trying to sneak out of Hogwarts?" Draco said as he pushed Nott towards Harry.

Nott stood on trembling legs before Harry. He was trying to figure out a way to escape but with Harry and two Aurors in the room it didn't seem like he would succeed.

"I don't understand." Tonks started.

"It's you." Harry said before Draco could speak, realisation hitting him hard. "You're the mole. The spy who's been passing on information."

Nott looked at Harry with a mixture of hate and fear but didn't say anything.

Sirius and Tonks both looked amazed. They fixed their wands to Nott, not wanting to lose him. They watched as Nott turned around to face Malfoy.

"You traitor!" he spat at him.

Draco's face twisted in anger at the insult.

"I'm not a traitor!" he hissed back at him.

"You chose _him_ over the Dark Lord! After everything he did to our Lord, you continued to be his friend. You are a traitor! You chose him over the Dark Lord!" Nott spat at him, the look of hate intensifying on his face.

"I chose Harry over _your_ Lord a long time ago." Draco said coolly. He smirked in his usual fashion before adding. "Did you never wonder who lead all the Aurors to Riddle Manor?"

Nott's eyes widened further and he stepped back in shock.

"Snape! Everyone said it was…"

"Snape wasn't alone." Draco cut him off. He was enjoying this. After nearly a year of hiding the truth, it felt immensely satisfying to say it out loud.

Nott couldn't find anything to say. He was taken aback by the truth of Draco Malfoy's loyalties. He felt a hand grab him from his shoulder and he was roughly turned around. He faced a livid looking Harry and he felt his knees buckle just at the sight. Harry grabbed him by the collar of his robes and dragged him across the room, Tonks and Sirius quickly following.

"Harry! Don't do anything to him!" Tonks said, afraid that Harry would kill the boy.

But all Harry did was throw Nott into the chair that had been previously occupied by Sirius.

"Start talking!" Harry spat at him. He desperately wanted to hurt him. He had found the spy and all he wanted to do, more than anything, was to make him bleed. He wanted Nott to suffer for everything he had put him through in the last few months. But Harry knew that he couldn't. He needed information from him and dead people couldn't talk.

"We need to get Dumbledore." Sirius said. He hadn't forgotten the ear bashing the Headmaster had given him earlier. They had to involve him in this.

Tonks pointed her wand at the door and whispered a spell. At once a silvery mist erupted from the end of her wand and formed into a Chameleon. It darted out the door and was away in a matter of seconds.

Nott watched, the colour fading from his face. His eyes darted to the four people standing over him, Harry, Draco, Sirius and Tonks. He nervously licked his lips, he knew he was caught and he couldn't see any way out of this.

It only took a few minutes for Dumbledore to arrive. He walked into the room and was informed of the situation by Tonks. The Headmaster turned his eyes to the skinny boy sitting awkwardly in the chair. His blue eyes pierced into the Slytherin and he looked almost ashamed.

"Tonks, inform the Ministry. You will have to escort Mr Nott there after I have a word with him."

Tonks nodded her head and left the room. Dumbledore walked to Nott, and stood before him, his shoulder was almost touching Harry's but neither noticed.

"Mr Nott, you will be escorted to the Ministry soon. There you will probably be charged for intentionally holding back vital information regarding the attacks carried out by the person disguising themselves as the Dark Prince." Dumbledore calmly told him. Nott was losing more colour but kept quiet. "I understand that it was you who supplied the Sedare Potion to Mr Creevey so he could spike Mr Potter's drinks, is that correct?" Dumbledore asked.

Nott nodded his head, his eyes fixed to Dumbledore's.

"So you knew the nights the attacks were going to be carried out and still you didn't alert the authorities. You let innocent people die and get hurt. For this reason you will probably be treated like an accomplice of the Dark Prince and will be held responsible for many of the attacks and fatalities." Dumbledore looked intently at the young boy before him. "I have to ask you why you felt the need to help such a person? Why did you agree to pass on information to the Dark Prince?" Dumbledore asked, his tone getting harder with every word.

The question changed something in Nott. His face that was previously drained of colour suddenly flooded pink. His eyes darted to Harry and the look of pure hate and anger he threw his way was surprising.

"I did it because of him! To take my revenge." he spat, glaring at Harry.

"Why? Was it to avenge Voldemort? Somehow I don't see you being that bothered about him." Harry asked, showing no other emotion other than anger

"I did it to avenge my father's death! I wanted to hurt you because you killed my father!" Nott screamed.

Harry stared at him, completely thrown by him.

"What are you talking about? I didn't kill your father!" Harry spat at him.

"He may not have died by your hand but he died because of you!" Nott said, angry tears swimming in his eyes.

Draco stepped towards Nott, speaking quietly.

"Your father was killed by Voldemort. The person who you are still busy being loyal too, your Dark Lord, was the one who killed him not Harry." Draco told his fellow Slytherin.

Nott closed his eyes, blinking back his tears. He shook his head as if to clear it. He opened his eyes and fixed Harry with a glare again.

"He died because of you. I know how he was killed and I know why." He whispered angrily.

Harry didn't know that Nott senior had died, let alone the exact details as to why and how he died. The last time he had seen him was when he was almost captured by him and two other Death Eaters. Nott had tortured Harry when he was too weak to defend himself. The memory still made Harry's insides burn with rage.

"Your father's death has nothing to do with me." Harry stated coldly.

"The Dark Lord killed him because of you! He killed my father because he hurt you! My father was only carrying out his orders. He was trying to capture you. But the Dark Lord got angry because my father had hurt you in the process. He killed my father in punishment!" Nott cried out.

Harry felt like some sort of explosion had gone off inside his head. That couldn't be true, could it? Voldemort wouldn't have cared if Nott had hurt him or not. He hated him. Any care and love he had shown him before was just an act. It was more probable that Voldemort killed Nott because he failed to capture Harry not that he tortured him.

"Your father failed in his mission. He was killed because he failed, not because of anything else." Harry said, his voice sounding odd to himself. As if he was speaking from a distance.

Nott stared hard at Harry, his face arranged in a thoughtful expression.

"Do you know what he said to my father, just before he killed him?"

Harry didn't answer. He didn't want to know. Nott smirked before answering his own question.

"My father asked for mercy. He pleaded for his life and do you know what the Dark Lord said in response? He said that my father should have thought about his wrath, before raising his wand at you. He said that my father should have known that he wouldn't tolerate anyone hurting you. After everything you did to him, the Dark Lord still didn't want anyone hurting you."

Harry didn't want to believe him. He couldn't believe him. It was too hurtful to think that Voldemort truly cared for him. It was be too much to bear.

"How do you know that?" Malfoy and Sirius asked at the same time.

"My uncle was there and he told me. He even showed me the memory. I saw exactly what happened. I don't blame the Dark Lord. It wasn't his fault. He was blinded by your deceit! If you hadn't left the Dark Lord then my father would still be here. You're the one to blame. Lord Voldemort only did what he thought he had to do to protect you! Even at a time when you were out destroying his Horcruxes, he continued to protect you!" Nott finished, breathing hard, angry tears in his eyes.

No one spoke for a few minutes. Harry was staring at Nott, his ability to speak had been momentarily taken away from him by what Nott had said. He couldn't stop the words ringing in his head. Voldemort cared about him. No, he couldn't let himself think like that again. It was too painful.

Dumbledore broke the silence by clearing his throat. He pulled his eyes away from the silent Harry and instead stared at Nott. He walked closer to him and kneeled down so he was on the same eye level as him.

"Who is the Dark Prince?" he asked simply.

The question brought everyone's attention back to the more pressing issue of the Dark Prince's identity. Nott gulped a little at seeing his Headmaster's expression.

"I don't know. I've never seen his face. He's…he's always wearing that mask."

From the sound of his voice it was apparent that he wasn't lying. Harry cursed to himself. He was sure that finding the spy would lead them to the Dark Prince. Behind him the door opened and Tonks reappeared. She had sent word to the Ministry and they were expecting Nott to be brought in. Dumbledore asked Nott many questions but the Slytherin didn't know the answers to the many questions about the identity of the Dark Prince. Finally Dumbledore stood up and looked down on Nott.

"Sirius, Tonks, I think you should escort him to the Ministry now."

Nott was pulled up to his feet and Sirius and Tonks lead him from the room. Nott glowered at Malfoy and looked at Harry hatefully but didn't say anything to him. Harry and Malfoy followed them out the room.

They walked down with the other four until they reached the main doors.

"Mr Potter, Mr Malfoy, you both should stay here. I will accompany the Aurors to the Ministry." Dumbledore said.

Harry opened his mouth to object but Dumbledore cut him off.

"I would not advise you to go to the Ministry tonight."

"But I thought the Minister knows Harry's innocent?" Draco asked, confused.

"Oh he does. I was suggesting that Mr Potter stays out of the Ministry for the Aurors' and Mr Nott's sake." Dumbledore answered.

Harry looked at the Headmaster's face and saw the small smile on his lips. Malfoy sniggered quietly at Harry's expression.

"I think I have every right to…"

"To break every bone on Mr Nott's body, yes, I would think that you do. But that is not the right way of dealing with this situation." Dumbledore cut Harry off.

Harry cocked up an eyebrow at him.

"The right way? You're still lecturing me about right and wrong?" he asked angrily.

"It isn't up to me to decide what is right and wrong. But it is my decision as to how to deal with my student. I can't allow anyone to hurt him." Dumbledore's words were said with force, to show that he wouldn't step aside and let Harry have his way.

Harry didn't say anymore and stood back as Dumbledore, Sirius and Tonks, still holding onto the unresisting Nott walked out the doors and towards the edge of the wards. They were going to apparate.

Just as they passed the edge of the wards, Nott turned around and smirked at Harry. It all happened in a split second. Nott looked away from Harry and doubled over, crying out as if he were in pain. Sirius and Tonks loosened their grips on him in alarm and tried to see what was wrong with him. Harry and Draco knew what was going to happen and were already belting their way towards them but were too late. Nott looked up and met Harry's eyes. His fingers were wrapped around a chain around his neck. With a hate filled look his way, Nott disappeared with a loud pop. Sirius and Tonks were still holding onto his arms but were thrown violently away from him jut as he disappeared, almost as if they were blasted away. Dumbledore had fired a curse but Nott was already gone.

Harry helped Tonks up from the ground as Sirius picked himself up.

"What happened?! How did he do that?" Tonks asked, pressing her fingers to the cut above her eye.

"Isolation portkey." Sirius told her as he walked over to her.

"But, they're illegal." She said.

"I know, but that never stops anyone, does it?" Sirius commented.

Harry stared at the spot Nott had been standing in moments ago. He was probably given the portkey by the Dark Prince and now he was most likely with him. Harry turned to look at Dumbledore.

"I bet you're wishing you had let me hurt him now." Harry said coldly.

xxx

The darkened room was lit only by a single torch. Darkness hung in every corner of the room, throwing the room into shadows. Nott stood, trembling in fear and nerves in the middle of the room. A mighty crash made him jump nearly a foot in the air. He stifled his gasps as he didn't want to bring the focus back to himself. He didn't want to go through that again.

The man in front of him sent a table crashing to the furthest corner. The sound of the wood smashing against the wall covered the frustrated scream that left the Dark Prince. His robes were still those he wore tonight when he went to the Astronomy tower, his silver mask was still in place. Nott watched in growing fear, as he roared in fury and blasted the furniture around him. He turned his icy green eyes to him.

"Months of my planning ruined!" he screamed as he upturned a coffee table, sending the bottle of firewhiskey and glasses smashing to the ground.

Nott jumped as the sound of glass breaking echoed around him. The Dark Prince turned his full attention to the seventeen year old boy before him.

"You ruined it! You gave me the wrong information! You told me that he had killed that Auror!" he yelled as he advanced on the boy.

Nott cursed Malfoy under his breath for relieving him of his wand. He had nothing to defend himself with. Not that he could have taken on the Dark Prince. He had proved he was just as good as Harry tonight.

"I thought…he acted like he had, had…he played us! All of us! The whole of Hogwarts fell for his act. How was I supposed to know he was only acting?" Nott asked as he stumbled away from the enraged man.

The man dressed in dark robes stopped in his tracks and stared at the boy before him. His eyes, the only feature of him visible, were fixed on the Slytherin.

"You blew your cover."

Nott wasn't sure if that was a question or a statement.

"Malfoy caught me! The bastard was actually on Harry's side. He's been his friend all along!" Nott said in his defence.

"Malfoy? You mean Draco Malfoy?" he asked.

"Yeah, that traitorous bastard! He was the one who helped lead the Aurors to Riddle Manor along with Snape! Dumbledore had kept that quiet to protect him and just as well. He would have been ripped to pieces by the whole of Slytherin if we knew the truth!" Nott said angrily.

Something in the man's eyes changed. An emotion flickered within the emerald green orbs. Nott couldn't figure out what it was. It could have been anger, rage or even surprise. Whatever the emotion was it was gone and a cold look of fury settled in his eyes.

He turned away and walked across the room, his back to Nott. He stayed quiet for long minutes, prompting Nott to speak.

"Look, I need help. The Ministry Aurors are going to be looking for me. Dumbledore will surely put them after me. I need to get out of here. I need to go somewhere and lie low for a while. I can't go home because I know the Aurors will be watching out for me. I can't even contact my mum! You have to help me! You have to get me out of here."

The Dark Prince didn't answer but looked around at him. Nott could feel panic blossom in the pit of his stomach.

"Look, I helped you! You have to help me now. I did all that dangerous spying for you! I supplied the Sedare potion to Creevey! I told you when Harry disappeared from Hogwarts so you could inform the Ministry! I helped you smuggle in that disgusting body of Nagini and I even helped you place it Harry's bed! You have to help me now, like I helped you!" Nott cried out.

"Yes, you did help me." The man answered, his voice low and emotionless. "I won't deny that. I know you've been a great help to me."

Nott relaxed a little and let out a sigh of relief.

"Just help me lie low for a while. When things calm down, I'll come back and help you. We can't frame Harry for anymore attacks but we'll come up with another way to get him." He declared.

"Don't worry about that." The Dark Prince said quietly. He reached into his robes and pulled out a long thin wooden stick. He smirked behind the mask, admiring the wood and fine craftsmanship. "I still have a way to get him."

xxx

The ride on Hogwarts Express was the most awkward and uncomfortable journey of Harry's life. He wished he had taken Sirius' advice and had just apparated back. He had avoided his parents and brother by skipping breakfast and heading out of the castle so he could be one of the first people to board the train. He easily found an empty compartment and had quickly taken over it. Every so often someone would come into his compartment, take one look at him and scamper back so fast they usually fell on their backside. It would have been quite a sight if Harry wasn't in such a foul mood.

Harry thanked Merlin when the train pulled out and they were on their way back home. He knew once he got back to Potter Manor it was going to be pointless to avoid his family but he couldn't muster up the energy to make peace with them just now. He had seen Damien through his window and had seen him board the train alongside both his parents and the three Gryffindors. Harry found himself staring intently at Ginny as the red haired girl limped slightly as she got on. He felt the familiar burn of guilt churn inside his stomach. He honestly hadn't meant for anyone, especially Ginny, to be hurt during the attack. He remembered what Ginny had told them, what the Dark Prince had said before throwing her off the roof. Whoever this impersonator was, he knew that Harry had been involved with Ginny. He targeted her on purpose. That revelation was making the hairs on Harry's neck stand on end.

Harry tried to distract his mind from late last night's development. The words Nott had spoken were still trying to fight their way to the forefront of Harry's mind but Harry kept pushing them away. He couldn't believe Nott. Voldemort didn't care about him. Harry knew that and he believed it, no matter how hurtful it was. Instead he distracted himself with Nott.

The spy had been Nott. Harry couldn't believe he had both the Dark Prince and his spy in his grasp and both had managed to get away. He knew that the isolation portkey that Nott was carrying was designed so that only the person holding the portkey would be transported. Harry couldn't have done anything about that anyway but he couldn't stop blaming himself. He knew that his health was still suffering. He had been stuck at Hogwarts and couldn't do any of his usual training. He swore to himself that as soon as he got home, he would start up his training regime and get himself back up to his usual standards. His sleepless nights were taking a lot of strength out of him and his magic since that was the only thing keeping him on his feet, but Harry hoped the sleeping spell would make a difference. He wasn't going to ask James for it though. If his dad was still mad at him and didn't do the spell then Harry was just going to make do without sleep. It wasn't as if he had never done it before. He would rather go for weeks on end without sleep then to ask for his dad for help and be turned down.

The door to Harry's compartment opened again and Harry turned around to see who had come in. he saw both Sirius and Tonks walk inside. Harry saw that both looked like they had hardly slept as well. They sat down opposite him and gave him weak smiles.

"Dumbledore told James and Remus about Nott." Sirius informed him. "He was looking for you, James I mean. I think he wanted to see how you were."

Harry scoffed at that but didn't say anything.

"Why did you leave so quickly?" Tonks asked.

"I knew there wasn't any point in hanging around. I preferred to get here early than be stared at by the whole population of Hogwarts." Harry replied.

Sirius and Tonks both nodded their heads to show they understood. After a few silent minutes, Tonks spoke.

"There's something I don't understand about last night. Nott blames you for his father's death and yet he knew that it was Voldemort who killed him. That doesn't make any sense."

"I think that kid is a bit loose in the head. A lot of what he said made no sense." Sirius supplied.

"No, it makes perfect sense." Harry answered. Both Aurors stared at Harry, waiting for an explanation. "It's very simple. Children of Death Eaters are brought up believing one thing 'Voldemort is always right'. Death Eaters know that if their children are to survive they have to believe in Voldemort and all he does. If they contradict him, they won't live very long. The fear of Voldemort is ingrained into their upbringing so no child of a Death Eater will ever stand up to Voldemort. Nott is just an example of that. He would rather blame me for his father's death than to place the blame on Voldemort."

Sirius and Tonks were gaping at him in surprise.

"Just something I picked up on." Harry told them with a tired smile.

"That does make sense. My parents were like that, but I think I survived because of my friendship with James. I preferred his way of living and supported his beliefs. Stands to reason why my parents were upset." Sirius said with a ghost of a smile.

"My dad is a muggle, probably why my mum was disowned." Tonks offered.

Harry sat back and let the other two talk amongst them. He was exhausted. He wished he could fall asleep but knew what was waiting for him. The last thing he needed on top of everything else was more nightmares of Voldemort.

xxx

Harry dragged his trunk to his room as soon as he arrived home. He kept quiet throughout the journey from the train station. No one had said a word to him. Damien hadn't even looked his way. He tried not to let Damien's cold behaviour towards him bother him but it was in vain. It annoyed him to no end. Harry had barely begun unpacking his things when James knocked on his door.

"Do you have a minute?" he asked as he walked into the room.

"sure." Harry replied.

"I spoke to Dumbledore this morning. He told me about Nott." Harry didn't say anything but fiddled with the dress robes in his hands. "I'm sorry that he got away. Did you find out anything useful from him?" James continued sitting down on the bed.

Harry shook his head. "No, he claims not to have seen his face either. Apparently he keeps the mask on all the time."

James nodded his head awkwardly.

"There's an Order meeting set up in a few days time. Dumbledore thought you should come along as well." James said.

"I'll see." Harry answered. He wasn't sure if he wanted to attend a meeting with Aurors.

Tense minutes passed but no one spoke. Harry could see that James was trying to find a way of talking to him without bringing up yesterday. Harry decided to make it a little easier and started the conversation.

"Dad, about yesterday…"

"No, Harry. It's okay. You don't have to apologise. I understand what you must have being going through." James interrupted.

Harry didn't speak for a few minutes. He wanted to make sure he was hearing things correctly.

"I wasn't going to apologise to you. If anyone should be apologising it should be you." Harry said.

"Excuse me? What do I have to apologise for? I wasn't the one who lied to everyone and risked my life for a stupid, half thought out plan." James answered.

"Half thought out it may be but it gave us more information than the rest of your Aurors put together!" Harry retorted.

"Don't start with that again." James said tiredly.

"Don't start with what?" Harry asked angrily.

"I don't want to go through this with you again. I know it's pointless to argue with you. You'll never admit you were wrong." James said getting up to his feet, intending to leave.

"That's not fair!" Harry said at once, standing up as well.

"You did something incredibly stupid and risky and you did it without even thinking about how it would affect us, your family. And after putting all of us through hell, you didn't even apologise!"

Harry stared at James. Is that what this all was about? Is that all they wanted from him? An apology?

"Would that make you feel better? If I apologised?" Harry asked carefully.

"It wouldn't make much difference to be honest but it would show that you are sorry for what you did." James explained.

"But I'm not sorry." Harry said quietly. "I'd do it all again in a heartbeat."

James opened his mouth to argue but then shut it again.

"I give up, Harry. Just do what you want, think what you want." He said and turned to leave. He was tired beyond belief and wasn't willing to play anymore games with Harry.

Harry watched as James left and wished he could leave as well. He really wanted to be away from all of them. But where would he go? Remus was the first choice but he was mad at him and wouldn't speak to him. Sirius would be the next choice but Harry didn't want to go to the Headquarters and have to see the Order members, especially Dumbledore. He could go and stay with Malfoy, that would probably be okay but then he would have to deal with Narcissa and Marco. Narcissa was okay but he knew Marco didn't like him much. He was always against Voldemort. He had stopped talking with Bella as well when she joined him.

Harry sighed deeply and sat back on his bed. He didn't have anywhere to go. He calmed down enough to realise that it was best that he stayed in Potter Manor. He knew he had to fix things with his family anyway. He couldn't stand them being angry at him, especially Damien. He went back to unpacking his things and trying to figure out how to make peace with the rest of the Potters.

xxx

Harry only left his room when Lily called him down to dinner that night. At first Harry ignored her but his stomach was starting to cramp with hunger. He hadn't eaten in the last three days. He left the privacy of his room and walked into the dinning room. He joined the rest at the table and sat in awkward silence.

Lily was the only one who smiled at him as he sat next to her. Damien was sitting opposite Harry but was not looking his way. James had already started his dinner. Harry started filling his plate with food and was contented to just sit in silence. No one spoke which was unusual as Damien and James usually talked throughout all the meal times.

"Damien, pass the potatoes." Harry said, thinking that he could at least say this much without causing a fight.

He was wrong.

Damien pushed the plate of roast potatoes towards James.

"Dad, can you pass these to Harry. After all he shouldn't _trust_ me with them." he said icily.

Harry narrowed his eyes at him.

"You know what, you're right. You'll probably just end up dropping them with those butterfingers of yours!" Harry retaliated.

"You know what? You're just an inconsiderate jerk who uses everyone and doesn't care about anyone!" Damien hissed angrily.

"Yeah, that's me." Harry answered insolently.

"Damien, that's enough!" Lily told him but the fourteen year old wasn't listening.

"Did you even think about what you were doing? Did you consider that fact that you were jeopardising Tonks and Remus' relationship and that you may lose Sirius his promotion? Did you think about them? No, you probably didn't. You were too self involved!" Damien spat at him.

"Damien, that's enough!" James reprimanded.

"Self involved? That's a bit rich coming from a spoiled brat!" Harry spat right back at Damien.

"Harry! That's enough!" Lily tried to stop him.

"Go to hell, Harry!" Damien yelled.

"I already have my place reserved." Harry answered back.

"Enough! Both of you!" Lily yelled cutting both off. "You both are acting like five year olds!"

Both quietened down but continued to glower at each other. Another few minutes passed in silence before Damien threw down his fork.

"How could you say that you don't trust me?!" he yelled at Harry.

"Damien!" Lily warned but he wasn't listening to her.

"Because I don't!" Harry snapped, even though he didn't mean it but he was too angry to care right now.

Damien stared at Harry, his eyes showing how much those words hurt him.

"Do you really mean that? Do you really not trust me?" he asked, his voice quieter now.

Harry knew he should tell the truth but the vindictive side to him was taking control.

"You haven't given me any reason to trust you. If anything you've nearly had me killed on many occasions! It would be safer just to stay away from you." He answered coldly.

Damien didn't say anything. He stared at Harry before getting up and leaving the table, his food left untouched. Lily called after him but he didn't respond. James gave Harry an angry look before getting up and following Damien. Lily and Harry were the only ones left at the table. Harry didn't mean to say that to Damien, he was just being hurtful.

"I don't know why you always have to make things worse." Lily said angrily to Harry.

"Me? I wasn't the one who started it!" Harry answered back.

"But you could have ended it!" Lily shouted.

"I wasn't…" Harry started.

"Enough! I don't want to hear another word from you." Lily yelled. Harry was so stunned he forgot to argue with her. This was the first time he was yelled at by Lily. "I know you think what you did at Hogwarts was right and at this particular moment I don't care. If you're not going to apologise to your parents then that's fine but don't you dare speak to your younger brother like that! You may not have noticed but you're his world, Harry. Damien depends on you so much! What you said to him was just downright hurtful! He trusts you more than his life and you know it! And for you to say something like that to him is plain spiteful."

"Yeah, I know but he's the one who…" again Harry was cut off mid sentence.

"I don't want hear it! I don't particularly care if you do trust him or not but you listen closely to me. You are going to make things right with him because he has taken a lot of grief for you. He's only a child and he has dealt with tremendous pressure because of you. He loves you and contrary to how you may act, I know you love him too. So make things right with him!"

Lily got up and started to walk away.

"And Harry, don't speak to me until you have apologised to your brother."

Lily walked away from Harry after saying that, leaving him sitting all alone at the family table.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

(smiles evilly)

You guys know what to do. Read and Review. My PC is fixed so I can get back to updating normally again! Yay! Please let me know what you think of this chappie. Cheers!!

Note : There is plenty of stuff to happen yet. A lot of action is yet to come (I mean that in the sense of more than just fighting sequences) I can't say how many more chapters there are but just think that we are probably three quarters of the way through the story. The identity of the Dark Prince will not be disclosed yet but I welcome all of you to tell me of your suspicions. Cheers!!


	33. From bad to worse

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! Here's the next chappie, Enjoy!!

**Chapter Thirty Three**

James pulled on his Auror robes and checked his appearance in the mirror. It had been a long time since he dressed in his blue Auror robes. His uniform had been left hanging in his wardrobe for almost a year now. James buttoned up the robes and cast himself a last look in the mirror. He really enjoyed being an Auror. When he was in younger and in Hogwarts he wasn't that bothered about his future. He was the only heir to the rich Potter family and knew he could live comfortably even without working. But it was Sirius that had convinced him to take up the subjects that were needed to become an Auror. Now James couldn't see himself as anything else.

James moved to pick up his wand and carefully placed it inside his robes pocket. He thought about the teaching opportunity he had. He really enjoyed his time teaching as the Defence Professor at Hogwarts. He had not imagined himself to be a teacher but he was quite surprised at how comfortable he felt. He would have liked to keep on teaching but Snape was scheduled to come back next term.

James had received a fire call last night asking him if he could come back to work early. He wasn't due back for another few weeks as he was still supposed to be at Hogwarts but with the school closing early, he was asked to resume his Auror post early as well.

The door opened behind him and Lily walked in to see her husband lost in thoughts.

"Wow, I forgot how handsome you look in those robes." Lily said as she wrapped her arms around him.

James smiled and turned to embrace his wife.

"Now I remember why I became an Auror." He teased as he kissed Lily.

"I can't believe you're going back to work already." Lily said.

Despite what she told James, she loved working in the same place as him. Having James at Hogwarts was a blessing. Usually she hardly got a chance to see her husband as she was at Hogwarts, teaching and James was always away on Auror duty.

"I know but I'm actually thankful for getting called back." James said quietly.

Lily looked at him questioningly.

"What? Why?"

"I just can't stand the tension between Harry and Damien anymore. I think even a few hours away from it will help. I'm hoping anyway." He said glumly.

Lily silently agreed with James. It was getting unbearable, the way they kept bickering with each other. Despite the heated warning Lily had given Harry, he hadn't apologised to Damien or made any attempt to make up with him. Instead he kept his distance from everyone. He took Lily's words seriously and didn't attempt to talk to her at all. He was either in his room or in his training grounds. Lily knew he was frustrated and annoyed with all of them and that was the reason he was spending so much time training. He was taking out all his aggression by training.

Lily felt saddened by his behaviour. There just didn't seem like an end to this tension. The two brothers were acting horridly to each other. She knew that both were stubborn and wouldn't give in to each other, even though they missed each other.

"Did Harry not speak to you either?" she asked James.

James shook his head.

"No. when I went in last night to ask if he needed the sleeping spell he told me he was fine and didn't want any help. I tried to help him but he was adamant that he was fine. It is so obvious that he wasn't fine. He hasn't slept since we came back from Hogwarts, and that was two days ago. But you know Harry, when he's in a mood he just shuts off an there's nothing anyone can do to get through to him." James said miserably.

Lily knew exactly what James was talking about. She had tried to get Harry to eat something yesterday as he had missed all his meals, but Harry just ignored her. She was concerned that Harry was not eating but at the same time she was annoyed that her seventeen year old was acting like a kid. She figured that he would eat when he was hungry. It was no use forcing food down his throat. Harry always said not to treat him like a kid so she wasn't going to spoon feed him. He could eat whenever he wanted.

"Just give him a few days. I'm sure things will work out. Once Harry and Damien make up, Harry will be in a better mood. They'll work out things between them soon." Lily said in an encouraging way.

"I don't know, Lily. The way they talk to each other. They're so hurtful to each other. I don't think they'll get over this fight. I don't want their long term relationship to be affected." James said with worry.

Lily laughed at the serious expression James was wearing.

"You're blowing this out of proportion. This is what sibling do. They argue and fight with each other like there's no tomorrow and then when they make up, they're each others best friends again." Lily explained. James still looked unconvinced so Lily tried to explain further. "I know you can't understand it, you were an only child but trust me, I know what I'm talking about. Me and Petunia used to fight and argue all the time."

James raised his eyebrows at her.

"Um, honey, you and your sister have an awful relationship. You only speak to each other two times in the year and both times, it's you who calls her. She doesn't even know Damien's name. She addresses him as 'boy'. I bet she doesn't even know that we moved home and that Harry is back with us."

Lily was quiet for a few minutes, her expression changed from calm to worry.

"I better go find them both." She said and rushed towards the door.

"Why?" James called after her.

"I'm going to find them and _make_ them apologise to each other before they grow apart and get to a point were they can't stand each other." She said in a rush before running out the room.

James sighed to himself, so much for Lily making him feel better. He left the room as well, heading to the living room so he could floo to work.

xxx

Lily looked for Harry everywhere. She couldn't find him anywhere. It was as she was passing her lab that she caught the scent of a potion being brewed. She quickly walked over to the doors and gently pushed them open. She sighed with relief as she saw her eldest son standing next to a cauldron. Harry was busy filling up empty vials with an orange coloured potion. He didn't notice her standing by the door.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked as nonchalantly as she could.

Harry looked up at her but didn't answer. Lily tried again.

"Harry, what are you doing here?"

Again Harry didn't answer her.

"Harry, I'm asking you something?" Lily said, beginning to lose her temper.

At this, Harry looked up at her, a blank look on his face.

"You told me not to talk to you, so I'm not talking to you." He answered.

Before Lily could answer that, Harry waved his wand at the cauldron and the remaining potion disappeared. He gathered up his vials and left the potions lab, walking past Lily without giving her a second glance. Lily would have followed him but she was too angry with his behaviour and knew she would only make matters worse if she followed him.

Instead she retired back to her kitchen and started preparing lunch. Cooking was always a good way to occupy a worried and angry mind.

xxx

Lily was sitting alone in the living room, flipping through the latest potions journal. Both of her boys had locked themselves inside their rooms and refused to leave so Lily was left by herself. She vaguely wondered what time James would be back tonight. She had really gotten used to having him around.

Just as that thought came to her, a sound was heard from the hallway. It sounded like the door had been spelled opened. Lily heard footsteps coming down the hallway.

"James! Is that you already?" Lily asked as she got to her feet. She thought that maybe James had come back early, after all he wasn't supposed to be at work at all yet. Maybe he was sent home early.

Before Lily could reach the door, it opened and Lily was more than surprised to see who walked in.

"Kingsley! Oh, this is a pleasant surprise. What are you doing…" she trailed off, the smile slipping from her face as she saw eight Aurors follow Kingsley, all holding out their wands, their expressions hard and unforgiving.

Lily stared at the strange sight before looking back at Kingsley. That was when she noticed that the Auror was looking really upset and wasn't quite meting her eyes.

"Kingsley, what's going on?" she asked, her heart thumping madly in her chest. A strong sense of forbidding engulfing her.

Kingsley gestured to the Aurors behind him to stay where they were and walked further into the room.

"Is Harry home?" he asked, his voice deep as always but Lily noticed the tension in it right away.

"He's upstairs, why?" she asked.

The Aurors behind Kingsley looked towards the door and three of them even moved towards it but Kingsley turned around and told them to stay put. He turned back around to face Lily, his dark eyes meeting hers worriedly.

"Lily, I need to…Harry has to…" Kingsley couldn't get the words out and it was the sight of the cool and collected Auror losing his nerve that panicked Lily more than anything.

"Kingsley, what's wrong? What's happened?" she asked.

Before Kingsley could answer, the door from the kitchen opened and Harry walked inside. He stopped at the sight of all the Aurors standing in his living room. Harry's eyes travelled from the eight Aurors, who all had their wands gripped tightly in their hands, all eyes focused on him, to the upset looking Kingsley standing next to his mum.

Lily looked at Harry's bewildered expression back to Kingsley's upset one and tried to ask what was wrong again but Kingsley didn't answer her, instead he walked over to Harry.

"Harry Potter." Kingsley said in a strained voice. Harry looked at him as if he were crazy. Why was Kingsley addressing him like that? Kingsley took a deep breath and then looked straight at Harry before continuing.

"You are under arrest for the murder of Theodore Nott."

The words came like a tidal wave and hit Lily and Harry.

"What?!" Harry asked, his face showing the initial surprise and shock at the allegation.

"You have to accompany me to the Ministry of Magic where you will be given a chance to…" the rest of Kingsley's words were drowned out by Lily.

"No! No! You're not taking him anywhere! Harry didn't kill anyone! This is absurd!" she yelled as she came to stand before Harry protectively.

That seemed to break Kingsley's resolve and he turned his troubled eyes to the red haired woman.

"Lily, I have to take him in." he tried explaining.

"No! Harry's hasn't killed anyone. He's been home the entire time! He hasn't left the Manor at all! He couldn't have killed Nott!" she cried.

The Aurors standing at the door moved forward and one of them, a blond haired man, started addressing Lily.

"Mrs Potter, we have undeniable evidence that Mr Harry Potter was involved in the torture and murder of Mr Theodore Nott. You will have to step aside and allow us to arrest Mr Potter."

"Jeffrey, will you please let me handle this!" Kingsley snapped. Jeffrey threw Kingsley a cold glare but stepped back.

Kingsley turned to face Lily and Harry again. He searched Lily's face before turning to look at Harry.

"Harry, I'm sorry but you're going to have to come with me. What Jeffrey just said is correct. We have evidence that you were involved and you need to…"

"What evidence!?" Harry interrupted angrily.

Kingsley looked at him for a moment before taking out his wand. He pointed it to the coffee table behind him and muttered a spell. At once a bright light erupted from the end of his wand and travelled to the table. It formed a ball before an image was seen inside it. Harry looked closely at the image. He couldn't make out what it was at first but then the image became clearer and Harry let out a gasp of surprise.

The image was of something that Harry never thought he would ever see again.

"My wand!" he whispered, his mind screaming at him that this wasn't possible.

Lily looked confusedly at him and then the image.

"Your wand? But you have your wand right here in your…" Lily trailed off as she spotted Harry's wand tucked in his pocket. She looked back at the image of the wand and gasped out loud. She realised that the image wasn't of the wand that James had got Harry. The image that Kingsley was showing them was of Harry's old wand. The wand that was given to him by Lord Voldemort. The wand that only Harry could use.

"Where did you get this?" Harry asked, pointing to the image of his lost wand, his voice sounding more menacing than he meant it.

"It was found next to Nott's dead body." Kingsley said heavily,

Harry's head was spinning. Next to Nott's body? His wand was found next to Nott's dead body? But how was this possible? Harry hadn't seen his wand ever since the day he went to Riddle Manor, last year. It was taken from him by the Death Eaters and most probably handed over to Voldemort. Harry was certain that his wand was destroyed either by Voldemort or was on him when he died. The fire that took Voldemort's life has surely destroyed his wand as well. That was what Harry had always assumed had happened. Never in his wildest thoughts had he considered the possibility that his wand was still in one piece and was safe.

"How, how is this possible? I thought it was destroyed." Harry told Kingsley.

"It was found next to Nott's body. This is what links you to his death. There is an arrest warrant issued in your name. I have to take you to the Ministry to…" again Kingsley was cut off by Lily.

"This is absurd! You can't think Harry's the murderer just because his wand was found next the body! It could have been planted there! It was most likely planted there by the real culprit. Kingsley, you know as does the Ministry that Nott was the one helping the so-called Dark Prince! He was nearly caught and brought to the Ministry by Sirius and Tonks but he escaped. Can't you see that he was killed by this Dark Prince? He wasn't needed anymore as his cover was blown so the maniac killed him! As for Harry's wand, Harry's not seen this wand since last year, since Voldemort took it from him! I can vouch for that!"

Harry could see that although his mum was making a good point, it wasn't going to deter the Aurors here to arrest him.

"Lily, it's not as simple as all that. I don't believe Harry did this either but you have to see this the way the Ministry does. Harry threatened to kill Nott in front of the whole of Hogwarts, everyone heard him say that he would kill him. Then Harry finds out Nott is the one helping the fake Dark Prince. In the next few days, Nott is found dead with Harry's old wand next to him, the wand that can only be used by Harry. I'm sorry, but there is no way out of this. Harry has to come with me."

Lily was shaking her head, not moving out of the way.

"Mrs Potter, we have authorisation to use force if needs be. We will not ask you again to move out of the way." Jeffrey said harshly again.

But Lily made no attempt to move. Instead she pulled out her wand and held it before her.

"You're not using my son as a scapegoat! I'm telling you he hasn't left the Manor since we all came back. It is impossible for him to have slipped away and committed murder!" she yelled at the Auror.

"Lily, don't do this. Please understand that we have no other choice." Kingsley begged. It was difficult for the Auror to perform his duty and hurt his friends at the same time. He was very fond of Harry, so it made this arrest all the more difficult.

"When was Nott's body found?" Harry asked suddenly.

"Last night." Kingsley answered.

Lily looked at Harry and both understood the urgent fire call made to James last night. That was why he was asked to come back so suddenly. Fudge had wanted him out of the way when they came to make the arrest. Fudge must have known that James wouldn't let Harry get arrested. A deep feeling of hatred forced its way up inside Harry. He had grown to hate Fudge almost as much as he hated Dumbledore.

Kingsley was still asking Lily to move out of the way when the other Aurors stepped in. They were getting very restless waiting for Kingsley to make the arrest. He had asked them not to do anything until he had explained everything to the Potters. But after everything was explained, Lily Potter was still not allowing the arrest. The blond haired Auror, Jeffrey moved towards Lily, his wand pointed at her.

"That's enough now! Mrs Potter you are the wife of a fellow Auror. That is the only reason we have been so civil towards you. You have been asked numerous times to move out of the way. If you don't move away right now I will have to stun you!" he shouted at her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Harry hissed venomously to him.

The Auror's hand shook a little and he slowly lowered his wand, his eyes darting fearfully from Lily to Harry.

Harry had hardly spoken during this whole encounter and the Aurors had taken that to mean that Harry was perhaps afraid. But now when they saw the rage in his eyes as Jeffrey had made to attack Lily, they all understood that Harry wasn't afraid and wouldn't hesitate to attack them if they hurt Lily.

Kingsley looked at Harry before facing Lily again.

"Lily, you have to move. Please, don't make this more difficult." He pleaded with her.

"I'm not letting you arrest Harry! He hasn't done anything!" Lily yelled, tears of frustration coming to her eyes.

She didn't trust the Ministry in the sense of what they could do to Harry. If the Minister had gone through the trouble of having James out of the way so they could arrest Harry, then he could do almost anything to Harry once he was brought to him. Lily didn't put it past the Minister to have Harry 'accidentally' kissed by a Dementor.

Kingsley looked at Harry, a desperate pleading look on his face. The Aurors behind him were getting restless and Kingsley didn't want this to get out of hand.

"Harry, please." He whispered to him as the Aurors began moving towards them.

"We have authorisation to bring him in by force! If you stand in the way you can land yourself in trouble. We won't hesitate to arrest you as well." one of them repeated, his wand aimed at Harry, rather than Lily.

"I don't care! Harry's not going anywhere with you." Lily said more determinedly.

She felt Harry shift behind her and suddenly he was standing next to her. He put a hand on her shoulder, a strange sort of calm look on his face.

"Mum, it's okay." He said quietly.

"No! No, you're not going with them. Harry, you can't!" Lily said, her hands were wrapped in his robes, holding him back from the going with the Aurors.

"Lily, I have to take him in but I know he didn't do anything. His wand can't be used by anyone else. All he has to do is cast the Priori Incantanteum spell and show that the last spell the wand performed wasn't the killing curse. That will be proof enough that he's not responsible for Nott's murder." Kingsley explained quietly. He had been trying to say that since he arrived.

Lily didn't look convinced. She didn't trust the Minister to let Harry go once he got him.

"Kingsley, wait, jut wait for a minute. Just…please don't take him. He didn't do anything!" Lily was in tears now as she tried to grip onto Harry's robes, to stop him. "Just, just let me call James! Let me contact him, please." She knew James would be able to save Harry. He had to.

"James can't do anything to stop this. You can't ignore an arrest warrant! You will land yourself in trouble as well. " Jeffrey told her.

This made no difference to her. She continued to hold onto Harry tightly, not allowing anyone to come near him.

"Arrest her." Jeffrey said and a dark haired Auror moved towards her. He stopped in his tracks as Harry gestured for him to stop. The dark haired Auror had his wand pointed at Harry and was looking at him warily but Harry didn't pay him anymore attention.

He turned to his mum and reached up to her hands and gently pried her fingers away from his collars.

"No, Harry! You're not going with them. Harry, no." Lily continued to cry as Kingsley took a hold of her and as gently as he could, he moved her away from Harry.

Lily tried to get out of Kingsley's grip and ignored the comforting things he was saying to her. She watched as the Auror, Jeffrey, hesitantly approached Harry, his wand along with the other seven Aurors wands were pointed at Harry, to warn him not to try and escape.

"Hands behind your back, Mr Potter." Jeffrey said.

Lily cried out and tried to fight of Kingsley but the tall dark Auror had a tight grip on her.

"Lily, please. Don't make this worse. They'll gladly arrest you too." Kingsley urged.

Lily closed her eyes and moved her head away as Jeffrey handcuffed Harry's hands behind his back. It was too much to bear. Harry wasn't a criminal but he was being treated like one. Kingsley let go of Lily and walked over to Harry. He took a hold of Harry's upper arm and began to lead him out of the room.

Lily felt like the air around her had vanished. She was having problems breathing. They were taking Harry away. They were arresting him for a crime he hadn't committed.

Lily rushed behind the Aurors, trying to get in front of them. She had to stop them. Just as Kingsley led Harry out of the door and into the hallway they saw Damien coming down the stairs.

Damien had heard his mum's shouts and at first had thought she was having a go at Harry. He didn't want to get in the middle of anything so he held back. But the fight was going on for a while now so he was on his way to investigate. The first thing he saw was Kingsley and the team of Aurors surrounding Harry. At first Damien didn't see Harry properly but as he hurried towards them he caught sight of Harry's hands cuffed behind his back. The colour drained from his face at once.

"What's going on? Where are you taking Harry?!" he asked, directing his questions at Kingsley.

Kingsley didn't answer him and instead tried to rush Harry out of the door. The sooner they got to the Ministry the better.

"Harry! Harry! Let go of him! Harry!" Damien yelled as he rushed towards his brother. He was stopped by one of the Aurors. "Get off me! Mum! Mum! Where are they taking Harry? Mum, do something! Stop them!" Damien's yells were ringing in Harry's ears.

Harry turned around to see the Auror drag Damien away from the door. Damien was fighting him off and tried to reach for his wand. The Auror grabbed Damien's wand before he could grab it and threw it away. He had Damien's arms pinned behind his back to stop him from attacking. Harry shouted at the Auror retraining Damien.

"Let him go!" he yelled.

Kingsley looked behind him and told the Auror to let Damien go. The Auror let go of Damien's arms but gripped a hold of him from his upper arm to stop him from following Harry.

Harry didn't know what happened next as he was pulled out from his house. They were heading for the edge of the wards, so they could apparate to the Ministry. When they reached the edge of the wards, Kingsley tightened his grip on Harry.

"Please, Harry, don't fight this. If you cooperate, everything will go a lot smoother. When we get to the Ministry, all you have to do is perform the Priori Incantanteum spell. Once they have proof that your wand wasn't used to kill Nott, they'll have to let you go. They can't keep you in. Just cooperate with them. Don't give them a reason to hurt you. Please." He whispered to him.

Harry nodded his head and held still. He knew things weren't going to be as simple as that but he hadn't thought about running away. He could easily apparate away right now but he didn't. It was for one simple reason. The same reason he let the Aurors arrest him. He didn't want his family to get in trouble because of him.

xxx

"Mum! Mum what's going on?" Damien yelled, panic blossoming in his chest at the sight of Harry being taken away by Aurors.

The Auror holding him was telling him to calm down but Damien didn't pay any attention to him. The Auror only let go of Damien when he saw Kingsley apparate away with Harry. He let go of Damien and left without saying another word to him. He joined his fellow Aurors and they all apparated away as well.

Damien turned around to see a tearful Lily grab her bag from the hallway closet and dump the contents on the floor. Perplexed by her strange behaviour, Damien continued watching her as she frantically searched for something, her hands shaking the whole time. Her eyes lit up as she caught sight of the object she was looking for. Damien saw her grab the handle of her mirror and pull it up to her face.

"James!" she cried hysterically into it.

xxx

As soon as Harry arrived at the Ministry he knew things were a lot worse than Kingsley had said. He was taken away from Kingsley at once and a Bartra bracelet was forced around his handcuffed hands. He was dragged to the interrogation room and then it started. Question after question was asked and no matter how many times Harry answered them, the same questions were asked again and again.

Harry's head was thumping with pain and his headache was growing more and more as the Aurors yelled and shouted at him. He wasn't at all surprised that the Aurors with him were not from the Order. It seemed that the Minister had worked out who belonged to Dumbledore and was keeping them away from him. Harry was waiting for the Minister to show his face. He was curious to see how the coward acted with him now.

But so far it was only his Aurors that took turns to interrogate Harry. They asked him again and again where he was last night and who could vouch for his whereabouts and when was the last time he saw Nott alive. Harry stopped answering after a while, refusing to repeat himself. That only encouraged the Aurors to force Harry to talk.

Harry wondered where his dad was while all this was happening to him. He knew he couldn't be inside the Ministry. He would have heard about his arrest by now. Harry was certain his dad had been sent on an assignment to keep him out of the way. It turned out that James, Sirius, Remus and Tonks were all sent out on various missions. Fudge had worked out all the people that could cause trouble and had sent them out to keep them out of the way.

It was after two hours of interrogation that Fudge made an appearance. He walked inside with a few Aurors in tow, Moody being one of them. Harry didn't know if having Moody here was comforting or not. Fudge was careful not to look Harry in the eye but the silly triumphant smile he was wearing was very annoying. Harry growled at him but didn't say anything.

"Has he admitted anything yet?" Fudge asked his Auror, a balding man named Jason Lang.

"No Minister. He claims to have been at home with his parents and brother." Lang answered.

"Rubbish!" Fudge exclaimed.

Harry gritted his teeth in anger.

"Have you administered Vertiserum?" Fudge asked.

"No Minister." Lang answered.

Fudge looked at Harry, looking at him for the first time since coming into the room. Harry glared back at him.

"Administer Vertiserum." He ordered.

Harry could have stopped them from giving him the truth potion but before he could do anything, Lang pointed his wand to the Bartra bracelet and Harry only just stopped himself from screaming in pain. The familiar jolt of electricity rushed through him, leaving him breathless. Lang pulled up Harry's head and forced three drops into his mouth, making his mouth sting. Harry recovered from the pain and blinked up to see Fudge smiling at him. Moody was looking rather sick and glared at the Minister.

The questions started again and Harry answered them truthfully. Fudge grew angrier as Harry told the truth of his whereabouts.

"He must have the antidote to Vertiserum. His mother is a potions mistress. I wouldn't be surprised if she gave him the antidote!" Fudge said, his face growing red.

"I think it would be best for you to leave my mother out of this!" Harry hissed at him.

Fudge acted like he hadn't heard Harry but his face grew red. He told Lang to administer more Vertiserum. Lang did so in the same fashion as before. Harry wasn't even planning on resisting the potion but the Auror wasn't taking any chances.

It continued like this, Harry was telling the truth that he was at home in Potter Manor at the time of Nott's death but Fudge was not accepting that as the truth and kept ordering more doses of Vertiserum. After the fourth dose, Moody stepped in.

"Minister, if you give him anymore Vertiserum you will end up poisoning him. If four doses won't make him tell the truth then nothing will!" he growled.

Harry realised that Moody was trying to make it seem that he was not in Harry's favour. Otherwise, Fudge would send him away from Harry's interrogation.

Harry's shoulders were staring to ache as his hands were still cuffed behind him. They were too afraid to untie him and so had left him with his hands tied behind his back. Harry could hardly take the pain building in his head anymore. All the truth potions he was forced to drink were making him feel ill as well.

"I have an idea, Minister." Moody said after a few minutes. "Why don't we ask Mr Potter to perform Priori Incantanteum on his wand? That will force the last spell he cast to be revealed."

"Have you lost it, Auror Moody? I'm not allowing a wand anywhere near him." Fudge exclaimed.

The chair nearest to Fudge suddenly went crashing to the wall behind it. The chair smashed into the wall and collapsed in a heap of wood. Lang and the other Aurors in the room had their wands pointed at Harry instantly. Fudge jumped nearly a foot in the air before realising that he was unharmed. He whirled around to face Harry, breathing like a wounded animal. His eyes were wide and fixed on Harry's smirking face.

"I don't need a wand, _Minister._ If I wanted to break your sorry neck I could from where I'm sitting. The only reason I'm putting up with this freak show is so you can have your fun and then let me go. I haven't done anything and you know it. So, release me so I can cast Priori Incantanteum and prove that I didn't kill Nott." Harry said everything with such venom it made the hairs on Fudge's neck stand.

He gave the orders for Harry's wand to be brought and for him to be untied. Moody took the handcuffs off Harry and gave him a lopsided grin when Fudge wasn't looking. Harry smirked back at him.

One of the Aurors brought Harry's wand into the room. He placed it on the table so Harry could pick it up. Harry felt all sorts of emotions rush through him at the sight of his wand. It didn't look scratched or damaged in any way. It looked just as new and perfect as it had the first time he had seen it. He remembered the first day it had been given to him. It was given to him by Voldemort. It was very special, this wand. It was the brother wand to Voldemort's wand. He had presented it to Harry with so much love and Harry had felt honoured to have the brother wand to his father's. He remembered how much Bella had moaned and groaned for the rest of that day.

With these memories, Harry reached over and took the wand from the table. As soon as his fingers wrapped around his wand he felt the magic inside him sizzle. He had a lot of love for this wand. Your wand was a part of you, an extension of your body. It was awful to have it taken away from you.

Harry looked up and saw five Aurors in the room with their wands trained on him. Harry cocked up an eyebrow at them.

"You do know that I can take all of you out if I wanted to, right?" he asked them.

The Aurors looked at each other before calling for back up. Another five Aurors rushed inside and trained their wands on Harry.

"Better" Harry mocked before returning his attention to his wand.

"Now, Mr Potter, don't even think about attacking anyone. You are inside the Ministry of Magic, you won't be able to escape from here." The Minister rambled on.

Harry didn't bother even listening to him. He held out his wand and closed his eyes, concentrating on the spell he needed to perform.

"Priori Incantanteum." Harry said the spell quietly.

At once two jets of light came out from the end of Harry's wand and lit up the room. The forms of Ron and Hermione appeared standing in the middle of the room. They were pearly white and looked like transparent ghosts. Everyone in the room watched as the two forms collapsed on the ground after a red light glowed around their chests.

They faded away to leave the room looking darker than before. Harry was feeling very sick with the excessive Vertiserum in his system and his chest ached from the numerous times his Bartra bracelet had been activated but he still found a smile. He had proof that he wasn't involved in Nott's murder.

Fudge was looking rather put out. He stared at Harry and couldn't find any words to say.

"Well, I think this sorts things out. I guess I better be going." Harry said.

"I don't think you will be going anywhere." Fudge replied.

Harry looked momentarily surprised.

"Why not? I just gave you proof that I didn't kill Nott. The last spell performed by this wand was two Stupefy spells that were cast a year ago." Harry said.

"Then explain why your wand was found at the crime scene?" Fudge replied.

"I think that is the Aurors' job, not mine." Harry answered back.

Fudge stared at Harry before his expression hardened. It looked like he had come to a decision.

"Lang, Hartford! Take Mr Potter down to his cell."

Harry stared at him in disbelief.

"For what? What is my crime?" Harry asked.

"For the murder of Mr Nott. You can't fool me. You've done something to your wand. You've altered it so it somehow hides the last spell it performed! I'm not stupid, I figured it out!" Fudge told him with a smug look.

"Figured what out? What are you on about!?" Harry asked heatedly.

"Your wand! You altered it so it only responds to you. If you can do that then you can do pretty much anything to it! Isn't it possible for you to hide the last performed spell so it will only show the second last spell?" Fudge said.

"No! It isn't! You can't do that. It's not possible to alter your wand like that!" Harry spat.

"It also isn't possible to manipulate powerful wards such as the ones placed on Hogwarts and yet you managed to do that! It's unheard of to contain so much raw power and yet here you stand. You were almost killed last year in the battle of Hogsmeade but you healed yourself. That is virtually impossible but you somehow managed to do it! You're somewhat of an anomaly, Mr Potter and I'm not going to fall for one of your tricks. I know you are guilty for Mr Nott's death and I'm going to let you get away with it!" Fudge finished with his eyes bulging out of their sockets.

"You've completely lost it! You don't have any right to keep me here after I have proved to you that I'm innocent!" Harry yelled.

"Oh, innocent! I don't think you and that word can ever come together!" Fudge said while gesturing to his Aurors.

Harry couldn't fight off the Aurors as they used the bracelet to get a hold of him. Harry was sure his chest was going to burst with pain. His arms were pinned to his back again and the handcuffs were back on.

"Take him to his cell and he can wait there until we have run some tests on this wand of his." Fudge said as he pocketed Harry's wand.

The sight made Harry's blood boil. He had his wand. Fudge had taken his wand!

Harry was wrestled out of the door, as he passed Moody he saw him wink at him. Harry knew that he was going to go to Dumbledore but he didn't think there was much he could do for him.

xxx

Harry sat in his cell. It was cold and damp, which only made Harry feel more unwell. He brushed a hand through his hair and rested his head against the wall. At least the Aurors had taken his handcuffs off. He stared at a spot on the wall. He didn't know what the Minister was playing at. How long did he think he could keep him here?

Harry wondered what would happen when his dad found out where he was. Could he do something to help Harry? He figured the answer was probably no. What could he do?

Harry saw a shadow cross his door. The metal door flickered and then changed to a door with metal bars. Harry looked up to see a smirking face and at once he felt fierce hate explode inside him.

"Ah, Mr Potter. How nice of you to join us again!"

Harry smirked as best he could and answered.

"Blake, I see you still have that annoying habit of breathing. I will have to put a stop to that."

Blake narrowed his eyes at Harry but continued to smirk at him.

"You know, for someone at my mercy, you shouldn't be talking like that." He said.

Harry laughed.

"At your mercy? What are you going to do? Glare at me until I cry?" Harry teased. "You don't have the guts to come near me."

Blake's smirk deepened.

"I don't need to be near you to hurt you. I wanted to show you something. It's actually a gift from the Minister. He got it especially for you." Blake said and then pointed his wand out of Harry's line of vision.

Harry waited but nothing seemed to be happening.

"Are you sure you said the spell right? Are you holding your wand the right way around?" he mocked.

Blake glared at him but didn't respond. Harry was about to say another insult when he suddenly felt cold. Really, really cold. It felt like an icy hand had closed around his throat, freezing all of his insides. Harry struggled to breathe. It was getting difficult to take in a breath. He saw his breath mist in the air before him.

Harry knew what was happening. He could almost hear the rattling breath and the horrid stench was filling his nostrils. Harry looked up horrified, to see Blake smiling broadly at him.

"Surprise! We got Dementors to come and stand guard over you. Isn't this going to be fun!" he said.

Harry's body was tensing up. He could feel despair and sadness fill up inside of him. His head was thumping painfully as was his heart. He pushed himself further into the wall behind him.

"You…you can't so this!" Harry managed to hiss at Blake.

"Oh I think we can. You really didn't think the Minister was going to hold you in a cell without proper arrangements, did you? We all know how you can use your powers to escape. This way the Dementors will keep you nice and weakened until we decide what to do with you." Blake informed him.

Harry was shaking already. He tried to stop his trembling but it was no use. His breath caught in his chest as he saw the two dark cloaked figures appear behind Blake.

"Well, I guess I should go and leave them to their job. Enjoy!" Blake laughed and turned to leave. He changed the door back to the blank metal door, blocking out the Dementors appearances but sadly not their effects.

Harry pushed himself further into the wall behind him. He had his hands pressed against his ears, trying vainly to stop the sounds of his own screams ringing in his head. He tried to use a wandless patronus charm but he knew that it wouldn't work. He needed a wand for that to work successfully.

Harry fell on his hands and knees and he bit his lip to stop himself from crying out as his most terrifying and worst memories all came at him in full force, at once.

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I know, awful cliffie but I'm forced by habit :)

Please review to tell me what you think! Cheers!!


	34. At the Ministry

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks for all the reviews! Here's the next chappie, Enjoy!!

**Chapter Thirty Four**

The fireplace at the Burrow erupted in green flames before Damien came tumbling out. He landed on his hands and knees. The only person in the kitchen at the time was Molly Weasley. She hurried over to him.

"Oh, Damien dear, what a nice surpr-" she was cut off mid sentence as Damien looked up at her. She saw his tear soaked face and felt her heart skip a beat. What had happened now?

"Mrs Weasley!" Damien's voice was horribly choked.

"Damien! What's wrong?" she asked in concern as she picked the boy up from the ground and steadied him to his feet. "Is everything alright? Is your mum and dad okay? Is Harry okay?" Molly asked to try and determine why the boy was so upset.

At the mention of Harry, Damien tensed up and his words failed him. He shook his head, as he was too choked up to say anything.

"What did he do now?" Mrs Weasley asked, thinking that he had probably run away again.

"He was arrested and taken by the Ministry!" Damien managed to say through the lump in his throat.

Molly wasn't expecting that. She was stunned speechless. She quickly ushered him into a chair.

"What happened?" she asked worriedly.

"Kingsley! He and his team of Aurors came and accused Harry of Nott's murder. They took him away! But Harry's innocent! He didn't do anything." Damien told her.

At hearing Damien's voice, Ron and Ginny came into the kitchen. They heard what happened and both were by Damien's side in an instant.

"Nott's dead! He was murdered?!" Ron asked looking very pale. He may have been a Slytherin and the one responsible for Harry's suffering, but he was still only a seventeen year old boy. Seventeen was hardly an age to die.

Damien nodded his head.

"The Ministry thinks it was Harry who killed him but Harry didn't! I know he didn't, he was home the whole time. The Ministry are pinning this on Harry because they don't have any other suspect!" Damien said emotionally.

"Where are your parents?" Molly asked in concern.

"Mum's trying to get a hold of dad. He's not answering her calls. She doesn't know where he is! She's gone to the Ministry to try and see Harry." Damien replied, his heart thumping madly with worry.

"Why is she trying to get a hold of your dad? Where did your dad go?" Ron asked.

"He was called last night and told he had to come back to work early. Fudge only did that so he wouldn't be home when they came to arrest Harry." Damien told them. He was furious at the Minister for playing such a dirty game with them.

"Why did Harry go with the Aurors?" Ron asked, confused as to why Harry would let the Aurors arrest him. He could have easily fought them.

"Mum was trying to stop the Aurors from arresting Harry, they were going to arrest her as well so Harry, he…he let himself…he…" Damien couldn't go on. He put his head into his hands and tried futilely to calm down.

"It's a good thing Harry didn't fight them. It would have only made things worse. They would have suggested that Harry was undeniably guilty as he was resisting arrest." Molly said while rubbing Damien's back in an effort to calm him down.

Ron and Ginny shared a look with each other. They didn't know Harry could do something like that to save his mum.

"We have to do something! We have to help him." Damien said urgently. He turned to look at his best friends. They all knew that despite what Mrs Weasley said, the situation couldn't be any worse. It was no secret that Fudge wanted to get rid of Harry. Merlin knew what the Minister would do to him.

Damien tried not to think about what Harry was going through right now. He knew his brother could easily piss the Minister and his Aurors off. He was too hot headed to know when to stop pushing others. He prayed Harry was okay.

"I'm calling Hermione." Ron said and hurried off to use the mobile phone Hermione had got him. Hermione had spent a few weeks teaching Ron how to use it properly. That way they could keep in contact the muggle way.

"I'm going to call your father. He might be able to tell us what's going on." Molly said as she got up from the table. She was just reaching for the floo powder when the fireplace turned green again and Lily stepped out from the flames.

"Lily! What happened at the Ministry? Did you find out what's happening to Harry?" Molly asked, hurrying to her friend's side.

Damien and Ginny had rushed from their chairs and were at her side instantly. Damien noticed that Lily was looking both worried and angry beyond belief. That couldn't mean good news.

"The Aurors won't let me speak to Fudge. He refused to see me! They won't tell me where Harry is or what's happening to him! They won't even say where they sent James! Sirius, Remus and Tonks are also missing. Kingsley said they were all sent on bogus missions to keep them out of the way! I swear when I'm finished with Fudge, there'll be nothing left of him!" Lily spat in anger.

"How can the Minister get away with doing something like this? It's outrageous!" Molly said, feeling anger and worry on behalf of her friend.

"I don't know what he thinks he's doing!" Lily said.

She turned to Damien and saw the look of terror on his face. She reached out and hugged him, offering comfort to him as well trying to get some herself.

"Don't worry, Damy. Harry will be fine. He's strong. He'll be fine." she whispered to him.

"I was just going to contact Arthur, he could tell us what's going on." Molly told Lily as she reached for the floo powder.

Again, before she could grab the box holding the sand like powder, the green flames came to life and Arthur Weasley's head was sitting amongst the flames.

"Arthur! I was just about to call you." Molly said, surprised to see him. Lily, Damien and Ginny dropped to their knees at once so they could speak to Arthur.

"Dad! Have you seen Harry, is he alright?" Ginny asked at the same time as Lily and Damien asked the same question.

Their sentences came out over one another, making no sense at all but despite that, Arthur knew what they were asking.

"I haven't seen him, Fudge is insistent that only his chosen Aurors deal with Harry. From what I've heard from Moody, it seems that Harry's given evidence to suggest that he's not connected to Nott's murder. But the Minister isn't accepting it. He has his mind set on Harry being Nott's murderer. He's imprisoned him until he can figure out a way to condemn him." Arthur told them heavily, his face showing his distress.

"He can't do that!" Ginny cried at once.

"He's the Minister, he can do anything." Arthur replied miserably.

"But he can't hold Harry there if he's innocent. If Harry's given evidence that he's not guilty then the Minister has no grounds to keep him imprisoned." Lily cried.

"Well that's just the thing, isn't it? We know that Harry's innocent because Moody is from the Order and told us the truth. Fudge is saying that Harry couldn't prove his innocence. He's not going to disclose the fact that Harry gave him proof and he just ignored it. And by the time an enquiry takes place, it would be too late." Arthur answered grimly.

"But Arthur, surely there's…" Molly started but was cut off.

"Molly, I can't talk for long." His eyes fixed on Lily and she felt a shiver run through her. He was looking at her with such urgency it was making her skin crawl with dread. "Lily, you have to get back here right now and don't leave until you speak with Fudge and get to Harry, no matter what they say to you! We're trying to find out where James and the rest were sent so we can bring them back. Moody has already alerted Dumbledore. He should be at the Ministry as we speak."

It was in that moment that Lily knew something awful was happening to Harry. She could feel it in her bones after Arthur looked at her with concern. Arthur wasn't the type to suggest to anyone that they come to the Ministry and badger the Minister until he spoke to you. This had to mean the worst.

"What's happening to him?" Lily asked, her voice coming out in a whisper, her eyes fixed to Arthur's worried face. "What is he doing to Harry?"

Arthur looked at her before his eyes darted to Ginny and then Damien, uncertain if he should tell them. He gave in and took a deep breath.

"Fudge has Dementors guarding Harry."

xxx

The air was so cold it felt like he was submersed in an icy lake. His breathing was heavy and constricted. The more he tried to fight the cold the deeper it penetrated. Harry moaned painfully as memory after memory came at him. It was futile to try and fight them. He had tried again and again in the last few hours to block his memories and to try and conjure a mind block, a defence of some sort that could protect him. But mind blocks didn't work on Dementors. They were still there, standing in front of Harry's door, their presence causing all of Harry' past horrors to come to life once again.

Harry saw Voldemort die, he saw Bella get Kissed by the Dementor Voldemort had conjured. He saw her lifeless eyes staring beyond him in Hogsmeade, her funeral, her grave. He saw Nagini's bloodied, severed body in his bed. His past came roaring back to life and he could see himself getting beaten when he was only a child. He could feel the blows as if they were raining down on him at this moment. His body ached and throbbed and his head felt like it was about to burst. He was in sheer agony.

Harry knew he would be driven to insanity if this went on any longer. It was perhaps fear of that happening to him that kept him fighting. He couldn't produce a patronus without a wand so the only defence he had was to try and fight through the fog of nightmarish memories and try and anchor his mind to the few happy memories he had. He tried thinking about his life when he was with Voldemort but all that did was make more hurtful memories rush at him. He knew that Voldemort only pretended to love him so all his happy memories were tainted with his deceit.

Harry cried out as another memory of his childhood resurfaced. He winced and braced himself against the beating that had happened thirteen years ago. Harry saw James come at him with his belt and the memory of the metal buckle ripping into his back was making Harry physically sick.

"It's not him. It's not dad. He didn't do this, he didn't do this." Harry repeated to himself again and again.

Suddenly the image of James changed and Harry saw Voldemort standing in his place. The sudden change made Harry lose his breath. How did that happen? He saw the memory as it truly was. That had never happened before.

Harry could feel the effects of the Dementors getting stronger, almost as if they could tell Harry was fighting it. Harry desperately started thinking about James, and about his mum and Damien, of all the good times he had shared with his brother before they had fallen out. He forced himself to withdraw from the memory of being beaten and instead focused all his strength into remembering the first time he had seen Damien. He remembered how he had snuck into his room in Grimmauld place just so he could see him. Harry focused hard and through the fog of nightmarish memories came Damien's face, bright and clear.

Harry kept bringing up different memories. He forced to bring up memories of the good times he had had with his family. The rare times he had not fallen out with his dad. He fought to remember the day they had spent in a muggle town, the shopping trip Lily had taken them on and the way she laughed when all three men were in matching outfits. The sound his mum's laughter was cutting through the sound of his own screams. He could feel the grip of terror ease slightly from his chest. He didn't know if he was imagining it or if the air around him was getting warmer. It was only a small difference but it was something.

Harry started bringing up memories of how James would coach him and Damien in Quidditch moves. The way James and Damien would spend enthusiastic hours talking to him about Quidditch teams and which was better.

All of a sudden, in the midst of memories of family came another memory, one that he held very close to him. He saw Ginny lying next to him, smiling and teasing him to get up. He could almost feel her warm breath on his face, see her eyes sparkle with mischief as she leaned closer to him. The memory changed to later that same morning when Harry had grabbed a hold of her hand and pulled her close. '_I don't care what anyone thinks, that was the best wake up call I have ever received._' His own words rang in his ears. Harry forcefully brought up memories of him and Ginny, the way they had danced at the Christmas Ball together, all the times Ginny had wordlessly comforted him even by just being next to him, the way she used to lean her head against his shoulder and sit with him. He remembered the way she used to kiss him, it always filled him with so much warmth. Harry was certain that had he had a wand with him at this moment, he would have conjured the most powerful patronus ever.

xxx

Ginny was sitting in her kitchen, amongst the other three teens. Hermione had rushed over at once following Ron's phone call. All four were worried into silence. None of them could find anything comforting to say. Harry was being guarded by Dementors! If there was one person in this world that should never have to face a Dementor it would have been Harry. His past was filled with nothing but horror.

Lily had rushed to the Ministry instantly after learning what was happening to Harry. Molly had contacted as many Order members as she could. Most of the members that were Aurors were already as the Ministry. There was still no contact made with James or the others. Ginny cast a worried glance around the room. Her mum was sitting with Alice Longbottom, Nigel playing quietly beside her. Neville had arrived with his mum and baby brother. He hadn't said anything to anyone. He stood in the corner, keeping an eye on Nigel while his mum was speaking with Molly. Many other members were sitting in the room, speaking quietly with one another.

"We have to do something! We can't let Fudge get away with this! It's atrocious that he thinks he can treat Harry like this!" Alice was saying heatedly. Ginny caught the unshed tears in her eyes and looked away. She knew that Alice cared a great deal about Harry.

"Mrs Longbottom is right." Hermione said, looking up at Ron and Damien. "We can't just sit here and wait until someone else does something about this! We have to do something to help him!" she finished.

"What can we do, Hermione? If Professor Dumbledore can't do anything, what can we do?" Ron said dejectedly. They knew that Dumbledore had failed to get Harry out because otherwise Harry would have been home by now.

"I think if we've learnt anything from last year, it's that we can do a lot more that Professor Dumbledore and the Order." Ginny said quietly.

The other three shared a look with each other. It was true. They all had teamed with Harry and together they had figured out, tracked down and destroyed all of Voldemort's Horcruxes. The Order of the Phoenix and Professor Dumbledore hadn't managed to even figure out what they were.

"I've had enough! I'm going to the Ministry, and I'm not leaving without Harry!" Damien said as he shot up from his chair.

"Damien, wait! Don't do that. They'll just end up arresting you as well!" Hermione said, getting up from the table and grabbing a hold of him.

"I'm not going to sit here any longer! If things were reversed and I had been taken by the Ministry, I can bet my life that Harry wouldn't have sat around and waited, he would have risked everything to help me, that's exactly what I'm going to do!" Damien shouted and freed himself from Hermione's grip.

"Damy, wait!" Ginny said and stood up.

"I'm not listening to any of you. And you of all people, shouldn't stop me, Ginny. Not after all the times Harry's saved your life!" Damien said, upset that even she was trying to stop him.

"I'm not stopping you. I'm coming with you." Ginny said, giving him a strange look, as if to say 'why would I stop you?'

"None of you are going anywhere. The last thing we need to do is give the Aurors more people to arrest." Mrs Weasley spoke up from her seat.

"But mum, we have to do something!" Ron said, he too had decided to go with Damien and Ginny.

"What good will it do to have you there? How's that going to help Harry?" Mrs Weasley asked.

There was no answer to her question. All four teens looked glumly at the ground, trying to rack their brains into coming up with a successful plan to help free Harry. Unexpectedly, Neville stepped forward.

"I have an idea that might help Harry." He said quietly, leaving the rest to stare at him in surprise.

xxx

Lily and Dumbledore were standing in the main atrium, arguing with the Aurors. They hadn't managed to speak with Fudge yet as the Aurors weren't letting them past.

"I'm sorry but the Minister is unavailable!" the Auror named Davidson told Lily and Dumbledore.

"Make him available then!" Lily snapped at him. "I'm not leaving until I see him! He's in for a world of pain!"

"Is that a threat to the Minister's life?" Davidson asked, reaching for his wand. The surrounding Aurors already had there wands pointed at Lily.

Dumbledore took over, speaking remarkably calmly for how he was feeling.

"I assure you Auror Davidson, Mrs Potter is not threatening anyone's life. But I am sure you can understand her frustration. You have arrested her son and are not allowing her the right to see him when the law clearly states that until a sentence has been passed, family members of an accused can meet with them. And on top of that you are abusing your power by keeping him imprisoned and guarded by Dementors." Dumbledore's tone had hardened so much that by the time he finished speaking, Davidson was looking at him like a school boy looks at his Headmaster after getting caught doing mischief.

Composing himself the best he could, Davidson stuttered back a response.

"I…I assure you sir, there are no Dementors here at the Ministry. I don't know why you would think that." He laughed nervously.

Dumbledore continued to look at him, without a hint of laughter or pleasantry.

"I want to see my son!" Lily said, her heart tearing at the thought of him suffering. Dumbledore had told her that Moody and Kingsley were looking for Harry's cell to remove the Dementors from there. So far, there had been no success. They couldn't find where Fudge had placed Harry.

"As I have already told you, it is impossible to meet with him as he is still being questioned." Davidson said without meeting Lily's eyes.

"You're lying! It's been five hours since he was arrested! You're telling me he is still being questioned?!" Lily asked with venom.

Davidson had had enough. He fixed Lily with a hard stare.

"I'm not going to repeat myself again to you, Mrs Potter. Your son is accused of murder and will not be permitted to speak to anyone until the first part of the investigation is completed. I'm afraid you are going to have to leave as you are just wasting the Ministry's time."

"I'm not going anywhere until you let me speak to Harry or to Fudge!" Lily spat at him.

"_Minister_ Fudge is not available to speak to at this moment." Davidson corrected her.

"Then we will wait here until he is available to speak to us." Dumbledore responded before Lily could say anything.

Davidson looked at Dumbledore, apparently unsure of how to speak to the legendry wizard.

"Look, Dumbledore sir, I respect you just as much as the rest, so I really don't want to escort you out of the building. Please take your leave." He said with a sincere look at Dumbledore.

"I appreciate your request but I'm afraid that I can't leave without speaking to the Minister or to Harry. Thank you." Dumbledore said.

"The Minister is a very busy man! He can't drop what he's doing to come and speak to two people!" Davidson said with irritation.

Before either Dumbledore or Lily could respond to that, there was a loud noise heard behind them. They turned around to see the phone box come crashing down. It opened to reveal Damien, Neville, Ron, Hermione and Ginny. They walked out of the phone box, hard scowls on their faces. Before anyone could say anything, numerous fireplaces erupted and began spitting people out. Lily turned to see Fred and George Weasley come out after each other, Bill and Fleur came out of another one. David and Darrell Bones appeared out at the same time from two fireplaces.

As Lily watched in numbed belief, more and more people started coming out from the fireplaces. Most were students from Hogwarts. Lily recognised her students. As she watched, Parvati and Padma Patil, Dean, Seamus, Justin, Susan, Angelina and even Colin and Dennis Creevey came out from the fireplaces. They stood up, dusting themselves off. There were many, many more appearing from the fireplaces. It seemed most of the seventh years had arrived, with the exception of the Slytherin house. Just as she realised this, she saw another figure appear from the green flames, Draco Malfoy brushed his robes off and looked around the atrium. He spotted Damien and hurried over to him, his expression one of worry and concern. So that was one Slytherin amongst the rest. The phone box had made another trip and had brought with it, Molly, Alice and even young Nigel.

Lily didn't know what was going on and one look at Dumbledore and she knew he didn't either. She saw Damien, Hermione, and Neville pull out something from their pockets and waved their wands across it. Suddenly large banners and posters enlarged themselves and appeared in their hands. All had one thing written across it, 'Free Harry Potter!'

Lily turned to look at Davidson with a smirk. The Auror was gaping at the large crowd that had appeared in the atrium. All the Aurors were staring at the sight dumbfounded at the angry crowd.

"I think the Minister is going to _have _to make time for _all_ of us." Lily said, enjoying the look of distress flicker across the Auror's face.

xxx

Harry didn't know how long he had been here with the Dementors. It felt like days to him. He continued to fight their effects but was losing the battle. His happy memories were staring to drift away as the strength to keep them at the forefront of his mind was draining him. He could feel the cold seep into his lungs and every breath he took seemed to cost him more and more strength.

Slowly, he realised that the cold started to ease and he could feel the icy air warm up. The Dementors were leaving. He could hear their rattling breaths fade away, as if they were moving away from him. A shaky gasp of relief left him and it was then he realised he was trembling from head to foot. His body was covered in sweat and he was sure that there were tears mixed with sweat on his face. He brought up a shaky hand and tried to wipe his face clean.

The door opened and Harry found that he was wishing for his dad to appear at the door. He never realised that he was subconsciously calling out to James this whole time. But it wasn't James who appeared at the door. It was Blake.

Harry tried to look more composed and collected but after suffering hours of torment with Dementors, he wasn't in any shape or form to look collected. He was lying on the dirty ground, his body still trembling from the after effects of the Dementors. He was covered in cold sweat and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't speak without his voice shaking.

Blake grinned broadly and walked inside. He slowly circled Harry's fallen form and jeered at him.

"Ah, Mr Potter. You don't know how good it feels to see you like this." He said as he stared down at Harry, smiling so hard, you could see every one of his teeth.

With great effort, Harry glared back at Blake.

"Careful, you don't want to wet your pants now." Harry taunted. His voice was shaky but the comment still wiped the smirk off the Auror's face.

Blake glowered before kicking Harry in the ribs. Harry held in his cry and instead turned to glare at Blake.

"You're just as stupid as your big headed father! Both of you don't know what's good for you!" he spat at Harry.

Harry panted to get his breath back. He looked up at him.

"As big headed as he may be, he could still kick your sorry ass any day." He said, enjoying the way Blake turned red at the insult.

"Why you son of a bitch!" Blake yelled and aimed another kick at Harry, this one aimed at his head.

This time, Harry was prepared. He caught Blake's foot and pushed him back, causing the Auror to lose his footing. As soon as Blake was on the ground, Harry rolled away from him.

"Accio wand" Harry cried out, trying to get Blake's wand.

Unfortunately, Blake had a tight grip on his wand and blocked Harry's wandless spell. He hissed another curse and Harry cried out as agonising pain shot through his shoulder and into his chest. Harry couldn't breathe due to the pain caused by the Bartra bracelet.

"You really think you can outsmart me?" Blake asked as he kicked Harry repeatedly while holding him under the curse.

Harry could hardly feel the blows, the pain from the Bartra was much worse. Finally Blake released him from the curse. He watched as Harry tried to recover, enjoying every minute of it.

"You don't get it do you, Potter! It's over. You and your father have had all the good luck up until now. Now it's time to start suffering. I can't wait until he comes back from that mission of his and finds out that his son was tortured and Kissed by Dementors." He let out a laugh at his own words. "The famous Auror James Potter will finally break when he hears that!"

Harry was finding it hard to breathe. He couldn't believe the Minister was going to arrange for him to get Kissed by a Dementor.

"Does Fudge really think he will get away by doing this?!" Harry asked him.

"Fudge? He doesn't even know it's going to happen. I'm going to tell him after the Dementors are done with you. He'll believe me. 'Oh so sorry, Minister but the Dementors, they went out of control. Before I could do anything they swooped in and gave Potter the Kiss. Oh, so sad, yes I know.' I'll feed him the usual rubbish and he'll buy it. He always does." Blake finished with a smug look.

Harry couldn't believe Blake was going to do this. He was going to risk everything and kill him, just so he could get to James. Before Harry could do anything, Blake turned to the door and called out to the Dementors.

"You can come in now, he's ready." He yelled.

Harry felt the cold seep down his back and it felt like he was paralysed. Within a matter of seconds, the Dementors had come inside his cell and were darting towards him. It seemed they were eager to get their hands on him. Harry broke out of his trance and backed away as far as he could go. He had no strength left inside him. He had been weakened by being held in a cell with Dementors for so long now.

The memories were already blinding Harry, taking over his senses so all he could see and hear were the dying screams and images of Voldemort. He could smell the stench of the rotting flesh belonging to the Dementors as they swooped over him. Through the screams Harry heard a sound that made his blood boil. He heard Blake laughing as he enjoyed watching Harry suffering.

Harry's eyesight cleared up at he looked over to see Blake standing in the corner, laughing at him. The two Dementors were hovering over him, one of them had already lowered it's hood to reveal the ghastly gaping hole that was it's mouth.

It all happened in a moment. Harry was never able to control when his powers took over. It was linked with his instinctual magic and perhaps that was why he couldn't control it. Harry's emerald eyes darkened until they were black. Blake stopped laughing and the look of fear on his face was very rewarding. Harry reached towards Blake and made a slashing gesture towards him and Blake went flying across the cell. He smashed into the wall and fell to the ground in a heap. He had been knocked out. Harry's attention went back to the Dementor that was trying to hold him down so he could administer the Kiss.

Harry reached out and hissed, "Accio wand" and Blake's wand came flying into Harry's outstretched hand.

Harry pointed the wand at the Dementor, who was so close to him that Harry could almost see into it's wide stretched mouth.

"Expecto Patronum!" Harry yelled as loud as he could. He brought the image of Damien training with him to his mind and that was all it took for Harry's patronus to come thundering out of Blake's wand.

The silver serpent slithered and twisted it's body in the air and wrapped itself around the Dementor nearest to Harry. The Dementor let out a horrid sound of pain and flew away from Harry instantly. The silver serpent turned and hissed angrily at the other Dementor. It bore it's fangs at the Dementor as if giving a warning, it's loud hiss ringing in the cell. The Dementor didn't wait for it to come any nearer. It took off at once, leaving Harry alone in the cell.

Harry was breathing hard and shaking from head to foot. He slowly stood up, his legs trembling under him. He moved painfully towards the silver patronus that was already starting to fade. He looked at the form of his patronus and felt a stab of pain in his chest that had nothing to do with the Bartra bracelet. His hand rose and he petted the large serpent's head lovingly. The snake moved into Harry's touch.

"Nagini" Harry hissed in parseltongue.

The serpent looked up at Harry. It was already fading away into silver mist.

"Young Master" it hissed just before it faded into nothingness.

Harry's hand was still outstretched and he let it fall to his side. He looked around at the fallen body of Blake and he could feel hate boil inside him. He decided not to think about what to do with him right now. He had to get out first. He gripped tightly onto his wand and hurried out of the cell, his legs trembling so badly he had to grip onto the wall for support.

xxx

Fudge thundered his way into the atrium. This was ludicrous. Never before had a protest been staged in the Ministry of Magic. It was downright disrespectful. And for whom, for Harry bloody Potter! It was unacceptable.

Fudge came to stand at the doors and saw that his grand atrium was filled with Hogwarts students, holding up posters and banners. His eyes narrowed in anger as he spotted the Headmaster of that very school standing with Lily Potter, looking amusedly around him.

"What is the meaning of this!" he asked as he walked over with his usual army of Aurors surrounding him.

"What does it look like, Minister? It's a protest for how you have treated Harry!" one of the students shouted out.

Lily and Dumbledore hurried over at the sight of the Minister.

"Fudge! Where is Harry? How could you allow Dementors to guard him?!" Lily erupted as soon as she was near him.

The Aurors that were protecting the Minister moved forward to stop her from getting near him.

"Don't even think about it!" she spat at an Auror as he took out his wand.

"You are forgetting who you are speaking to Lily Potter. I am your Minister! You will address me as such!" Fudge seethed.

"Minister? You haven't acted like a Minister. You're acting like a tyrant!" Lily yelled at him, trying to get past the bodyguard.

"How dare you!" Fudge said, appalled at how he was being spoken too.

"Minister, you have to tell us where you are keeping Harry. It would be in your best interest to let Harry go. He's given you evidence of his innocence and you have to take that into account. Keeping him locked in a cell, guarded by Dementors isn't going to do you any good." Dumbledore said in his usual polite way. "In fact, I think it may do you more harm." He added as he cast a glance behind him at the angry crowd.

Fudge looked at the protestors and paled slightly.

"I am doing what is best for my people. He is dangerous and has a past record of…"

"His past is in the past. Since Harry killed Voldemort he has done nothing to harm anyone. If anything he has helped the wizarding community. You saw what happened on Valentine's Day in Hogsmeade. Harry saved numerous lives that day." Dumbledore said the last part loud enough for everyone to hear.

Fudge's eyes dilated in obvious fear. He remembered that day very well. He had never been more afraid in his life.

"I remember that day perfectly well. And it would do all of you well to remember how he killed those Vampires! The dark magic he displayed was highly disturbing. He is capable of doing terrifying things, and I'm not going to sit back and let him follow in his '_father's_' footsteps!" Fudge finished, fear clearly present in his eyes.

Lily was struggling with the Auror restraining her. If she could have, she would have slapped the Minister for saying such a thing.

"Voldemort was not Harry's father. Harry's accepted that, perhaps you should too." Dumbledore said in a low and dangerous voice.

xxx

Harry struggled to keep on walking. He didn't realise that the Dementors had affected him this badly. He tried to think of the best route to escape. The problem was that he had no idea where he was. He was in a secluded part of the Ministry. He remembered when he was brought in last time, he was held in a wing that had numerous cells. He was in a different place this time.

He was walking painfully, guiding himself along by the walls. Just as he reached the end of the corridor he felt like someone had plunged him into an icy lake. His whole body numbed with cold. He fell to his knees and cried out as pain engulfed him. So many images were flashing in his mind that he couldn't make sense of any of them. He could tell only one thing, they were all bad memories.

Working up the remaining strength left in his body, Harry looked up and saw what was wrong. The two Dementors had come back, and this time they were mad. Harry didn't know how he could tell as they had no visible features but somehow he could just tell. The way they were coming towards him, Harry could tell they weren't going to leave him alone until they had devoured his soul. Their effect was almost ten fold and it weighed on Harry, pushing him deeper and deeper into despair.

Harry gripped onto the wand and pointed it at the Dementor. Before he could say anything, the Dementor swooped over him. Harry's breath caught in his chest and he fell onto his back. He was completely exhausted. He had been fighting these Dementors for the last four hours now and they had drained him of all his strength. The wand rolled out from his slack fingers but Harry couldn't muster up any energy to hold onto it.

The Dementors were hovering over Harry, they reached out with their rotting fingers and grabbed a hold of Harry's face. They were pinning him to the ground. All Harry could do was struggle to breathe. Many images flashed in his mind, all the memories he had been forced to live through in the last four hours came back at him.

The Dementors leaned in closer to Harry, forcing his mouth open. Suddenly the Dementor was pushed aside and a silver blur passed over Harry's eyes. He coughed painfully, forcing himself to focus on what was happening. He could tell that the Dementors were being driven away from him. With every muscle in his body protesting, Harry pushed his head up and saw the silver patronus in the form of a great shaggy dog. It was chasing away the Dementors, away from Harry's fallen form.

Harry knew he had seen that particular form before. His pain racked mind wasn't clearing up enough for him to figure out where he had seen it. As the Dementors fled away from the bear like dog patronus, it came to Harry, where he had seen it before. The patronus was very similar to Sirius' animagus form. It was his dad's patronus. It was his James' patronus. Harry remembered seeing it the night Nagini was found in his bed. His dad had sent his patronus to get help. That meant that his dad was here. He had chased away the Dementors.

Sure enough, Harry felt strong hands grab a hold of him and turn him over. He saw the very pale and terrified face of his dad looking at him.

"Harry! Oh, God! Are you okay? Oh, please be okay!" he said in a shaky voice.

Harry couldn't find his voice to answer. He nodded his head to show he was okay. James took Harry into a strong embrace, thanking Merlin that he was okay. Harry could hear the fear and relief in his dad's voice. Harry hugged James as well. He realised how close he came to never seeing him or his mum or Damien again.

Harry was trembling, he felt like he would never get rid of the cold that had seeped inside of him. James unbuttoned his cloak and in one swift move he had wrapped it around Harry.

"Come on, Harry. We're going home." James said as he helped Harry to his feet.

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There you go. No cliffie this time. Let me know what you think. Cheers.

Note : I was going to make the chapter longer but my kids wanted my attention. Zara is six months now and is cutting her first tooth, so she's wanting my attention more than usual. Please excuse any mistakes as I wrote this while taking care of a screaming six month old and a three year old!

(I have a note on my homepage for all of those who reviewed the last chapter and complained about the angst. Please read it. Thank you.)


	35. Back at Potter Manor

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks for all the wonderful encouraging reviews! I really am grateful to all of you. Here's the next chappie. Be warned, it's full of sappy scenes, Enjoy!!

**Chapter Thirty Five**

Harry managed to get to his feet, his knees threatening to buckle at any moment. James kept a tight grip on Harry, guiding him through the corridors until they arrived out in the atrium.

The first thing Harry saw was the large crowd of people, holding up posters and banners. Harry was struggling just to stay on his feet so the words written across the banners and posters didn't register in his mind at first. He saw that the Aurors were trying very hard to keep the mob of people away from the Minister who was surrounded by his bodyguard Aurors. That was when he noticed Sirius, Remus, Tonks and Lily standing near the front arguing with the Aurors guarding Fudge. Dumbledore was seemingly arguing with Fudge.

"I will not be pressurised into releasing him! You can't manipulate me, Dumbledore! You can arrange as many protests as you like! I will not release Potter until the investigation is complete!" Fudge roared at Dumbledore.

The word 'protest' hit Harry hard and he turned to look at the angry mob of people holding up the banners and posters, in surprise. They were here for him! They were fighting for his release. That was when the words written in bold letters made sense to him.

Harry didn't understand why a protest was being made for him. He didn't think anyone would care. That was when he recognised the faces in the crowd. Damien was arguing heatedly with one of the Aurors, Draco by his side. Lavender and Parvati were holding up a large banner with the words 'Free Harry Potter!' and were yelling the same thing at the Aurors. He spotted the long red hair belonging to Ginny and felt his heart leap in his chest. She was standing with Hermione and Neville and was arguing and shouting heatedly with the Aurors, trying to keep them away from the Minister.

He saw more and more people from Hogwarts and realised that his fellow students were all here fighting for his release. Never did he think that students from Hogwarts would come to his aid.

Harry saw Ron look towards them and as soon as their eyes met, Ron's face lost its colour. He was staring at Harry as if he couldn't believe his eyes. Harry knew that if he looked half as bad as he was feeling right now, then he probably looked awful. Ron caught Hermione's attention and pointed out Harry. She looked around at him and her face paled just as Ron's had. Harry saw her mouth form the words 'Oh God!'

Soon the students noticed Harry and James walking into the atrium. They quietened down and just stared at Harry's shaky form as he painfully made his way across the atrium.

Sirius looked in their direction and his argument was cut off in mid sentence. The arguing stopped as all of them saw James helping Harry.

At once, Lily, Sirius, Remus and Tonks ran to meet Harry and James. Lily had Harry in a tight embrace as soon as neared him. Harry would have objected to her very public display of emotion but he was still reeling from his close encounter with the Dementors. He knew he came awfully close to never seeing her again. So Harry let Lily embrace him and say comforting things in his ear. She pulled away and her concerned eyes took in her son's trembling form. She was shaking herself, her hand were trembling as she reached for Harry's face. She had been so nervous and worried about him.

Sirius, Remus and Tonks all were looking at Harry with wide concerned eyes. He looked awful, they had never seen him as pale as this. His hair was plastered to his head with sweat and he was shaking badly. They could see that Harry was trying very hard to compose himself, but he couldn't. James' tight grip on his arm was evidence enough that Harry couldn't keep on his feet by himself.

"Come on. Lets go." James said softly and they started walking towards the exit, completely ignoring the Minister and his army of Aurors.

Fudge was staring at James with barely hidden rage. He moved to stand before James and Harry, his Aurors standing behind him, wands drawn.

"Auror Potter! What are you doing?" he asked.

James didn't even bother looking at him to answer him.

"I'm taking my son home." He said, his voice giving away how much he was controlling himself.

"You can't take him. He's under arrest for the murder of…"

"No he's not! Harry has given you evidence of his innocence. The wand that was found next to Nott's body was not used to take his life. That was the only thing linking Harry to this murder. Harry's not done anything, he's going home." James said, cutting Fudge off in mid sentence.

"Now you listen…" Fudge started, his face red and angry.

"No, you listen!" James said from between clenched teeth. He let go of Harry and moved towards the Minister. "It would be in your best interest to stay out of my way! The only reason I'm not dealing with you right now is because I want to take my son home first."

"Your son is under arrest. You can't remove him from the building until the investigation is over." Fudge replied heatedly.

"The investigation is over. He gave you his proof. He cast the Priori Incantateum charm on his wand and gave you proof that he wasn't involved. He doesn't have anything more to do with this." James replied. He turned to guide Harry towards the doors again but was stopped by Fudge. Every eye was on the Minister and James.

"You don't have the authority to remove him from the Ministry." He said angrily.

"I have all the authority I need. I don't need to abide by any set of rules when you broke them yourself!" James said, his anger getting beyond his control.

"What do you mean? I haven't broken any rules. The arrest warrant issued was legitimate and with good reason." Fudge said at once, defending himself.

"The warrant may have been legitimate but your behaviour wasn't! You sent me away from the Ministry on purpose so I would be out of your way. You arrested Harry and used inappropriate methods to interrogate him. When you realised that Harry was in fact innocent and could prove it, you imprisoned him and had Dementors guard him! When you saw that you couldn't possibly win this, you gave the order to the Dementors to administer the Kiss!" James' voice grew with every word until he had shouted out the last part.

At the mention of the Kiss, everyone in the atrium took in sharp breaths. The students were staring at Fudge with venom. Harry's awful appearance made a lot of sense now. Even Dumbledore had turned to look at the Minister, severe anger showing in his eyes. Damien couldn't tear his eyes away from his brother. He never thought the Minister could stoop so low as to do something like that.

Fudge was shaking his head at the allegation.

"Rubbish! I didn't order the Dementors to administer the Kiss! Why would I do that! I only ordered them to guard him! You're making that up!" he shouted at James.

"If I hadn't reached Harry in time, your foul Dementors would have administered the Kiss!" James retorted, his fists clenched hard by his sides.

Lily looked at Fudge before turning to look at Harry. He was silent throughout all of this. She knew it wasn't out of choice. He was too exhausted to find his voice and argue. He was focusing all his energy to keep standing upright and it showed on his face.

She reached for his hand and grabbed onto it, squeezing it slightly, offering non verbal comfort. Harry looked up at her and gave her small squeeze back, showing her that he was okay.

"I will not stand for this! You are falsely accusing me of this! I did not give the Dementors any orders for administering the Kiss!" Fudge shouted, his face growing red from all the screaming.

"An hour ago your Aurors were denying that Dementors were even here at the Ministry. What are we supposed to believe?" Lily said with quiet venom.

Fudge looked at her, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. He looked back at James as he walked towards Harry. The crowd of students were positively spitting in his direction. Their angry glares were directed at him. He knew he had to clear his name or else he would be in real trouble.

"Auror Potter, you can't accuse me of such a crime. I would never allow Dementors to do such a thing. They were here only to stand guard."

"The Dementors had no business being here in the first place." Sirius barked at him, his eyes narrowed in angry slits.

Fudge looked from him back to the crowd. Angry murmurs began amongst the crowd. Hateful words were heard against Fudge and the Minister was starting to break out in a cold sweat.

"I had to get the Dementors! I knew I couldn't hold him otherwise. I had to take the necessary precautions!" he started to explain, his voice cracking to show how nervous he had become.

James took no notice, he began leading Harry away again.

"Auror Potter, you can't just walk away!" Fudge said, he was so angry, his hands were shaking.

James stopped in his tracks and turned to look at him. When he spoke, his voice was steady but the tones of hurt were clear for all to hear.

"I have given this Ministry twenty two years of my life and this is what I get in return! My own son falsely accused and nearly destroyed by the person who is supposed to be in charge! You planned all this out. You sent me away from the Ministry on purpose so I couldn't help him. You sent Aurors to my home and threatened to imprison my wife! You used improper methods to question Harry and unlawfully imprisoned him! After twenty two years service, this is how my family is treated!" He said, his anger barely controllable.

Without saying anymore he reached over to the badge that was pinned on his blue Auror robes. He pulled it off in one go and threw it at the Minister's feet. The gold badge skidded across the marble floors and stopped at Fudge's feet. "I quit." James said in an even voice.

Harry turned to look at is dad in shock. Lily, Sirius, Remus and Tonks all stared at James in stunned surprise. James didn't look at any of them, his eyes were fixed on Fudge. The Minister was gaping at him, not daring to believe that he was serious.

"I don't want to be an Auror anymore if it means I have to stand back and watch you abuse your power and mistreat others. I would rather devote my time to finding a way to professionally and personally destroy you until there is nothing left!" James added with so much rage it made Fudge take a step back.

Fudge was rendered speechless. Harry couldn't believe his dad had just quit his Auror job like that. James turned and started walking with the others, heading for the door.

"Potter! You can't take a suspect without…" Fudge tried again, in a shaky voice.

"I know my rights. After an accused has provided sufficient evidence to prove their innocence, they cannot be held. They have every right to leave." James answered.

"That's right!" Moody said, stepping forward. "I was there when Potter gave his evidence. He's proved his innocence." Moody said quickly before the Minster could say anymore.

Fudge was looking at Moody with wide disbelieving eyes. He didn't think Moody would have sided with Harry. When it was apparent that the Minister had nothing more to say, James started walking again.

Harry suddenly stopped in his tracks. He turned to look at James and without saying anything, he moved way from him and started walking towards the Minister.

"Harry?" James called out, but Harry didn't answer him.

He walked as steadily as he could up to Fudge, his eyes fixed on the Minister and not on the surrounding Aurors who were pointing their wands at Harry. Fudge's face had suddenly lost all its colour. Harry stopped in front of him. Fudge's mouth had suddenly dried up. He couldn't find any words to say to Harry, not when he was standing this close.

James and the others watched, confused as to what Harry was doing. Without saying a single word, Harry reached towards the Minister's robes. Fudge flinched hard and nearly jumped a foot in the air. There were numerous wands pointed at Harry but no one fired any curses at him.

All Harry did was flick Fudge's robes open to pull out his wand from the inner pocket. Harry held up the wand to show Fudge that was all he was after and tucked it safely in his own pocket. Harry's hard glare never left Fudge's shaking form the whole time. The Minister could find nothing to say and let out a breath of relief when Harry moved away from him.

Without saying a word, Fudge turned and fled from the atrium, rushing to get away from everyone. Harry joined his dad again and the small group headed towards the door. The rest of the Aurors stood where they were, confused as to what they were supposed to do. They started ushering the protesters towards the exit. Now that everything was over, they all could leave.

Just before approaching the exit, Harry seemed to suddenly remember something and he stopped in his tracks. James looked at him, confused as to why he was stopping now.

"Harry? What's wrong?" he asked.

Before Harry could answer, Sirius spotted the bartra bracelet on Harry's wrist. He reached towards it but Harry quickly pulled his hand away. He didn't want Sirius to accidentally set it off. He didn't think he could deal with the pain again. Sirius looked at him, his eyes taking in the boy's trembling and he realised that the after effects of the bracelet were just as horrendous as the after effects of the crucio curse.

Sirius looked around at the Aurors, all still standing with their wands pointed at Harry, even when he looked ready collapse. A deep feeling of disgust and hate rose inside him.

"Whoever's put the bartra on Harry better come and take it off!" Sirius yelled.

After a few moments, Jeffrey stepped out from the crowd and moved towards Harry. Standing a good distance away, he flicked his wand and said the counter curse. The bracelet unwound from Harry and zoomed straight towards the Auror. Jeffrey caught it and pocketed the bracelet. He turned and quickly left before anyone could say, or do, anything to him.

The mass of students let out a cheer as Harry and his parents, along with Remus, Sirius and Tonks headed towards the exit and left the Ministry of Magic.

xxx

Harry apparated side along with his dad and arrived outside Potter Manor. His mum was waiting to find Damien amongst the crowd of students leaving the Ministry and was going to apparate back with him. Sirius, Remus and Tonks, while immensely worried about Harry, decided to leave him alone with his immediate family. Harry desperately needed rest.

Harry shakily walked inside the Manor and immediately collapsed onto the sofa in the living room. His whole body was aching and throbbing with pain. He closed his eyes in a bid to relive the pain in his head.

James headed towards the fireplace and made a fire call to Poppy. He was asking her to come over as soon as she could. Harry was too tired to argue and just let him call Poppy. He felt a hand soothe his burning forehead and he opened his eyes to see James standing over him. The look of pain and concern on his face was alarming. Harry suddenly felt very guilty for putting his dad through so much. He knew that his plan to catch the 'Dark Prince' was partly to blame for his arrest. He knew how much his dad loved being an Auror and because of what happened today, his dad had left that job. Harry thought that James had quit his job in a moment of rage and was certain he would regret his rash decision. He diverted his eyes from his dad and looked at his own hands.

"You're burning up. Take some fever relief potion, before it gets worse." James said, casting 'accio' on the said potion and handing it to Harry.

Harry wordlessly drank the potion as James sat down to face him. Both were silent for long minutes. The awkwardness stretched out the minutes so it felt like they were sitting in silence for hours. Finally the door opened and Lily and Damien came inside. Both James and Harry looked up at them, relieved that they were here.

Lily rushed to Harry and started examining him. Damien just stood at the door, staring at Harry, silently thanking all the Gods that his brother had survived. Harry looked over at Damien and quickly looked away.

The fireplace burst into green flames and Poppy came to stand in the room. She ushered Damien out, not wanting him to witness Harry's check up. Damien left, looking like he desperately wanted to stay. James and Lily told Poppy what had happened as she started attending to Harry at once. She was looking livid by the time they finished.

Harry was happy to just sit in silence while Poppy called Fudge all the names under the sun. Lily was doing most of the talking. James was sitting quietly, his eyes fixed to Harry.

"I can't believe he would do something like this! It's outrageous! I'm appalled at his behaviour!" Poppy continued to say as she ran her wand over Harry's body.

Her expression changed from angry to worry. She ran her wand repeatedly over Harry's chest, particularly the left side. Harry thought he knew what was bothering her.

"It was the bartra bracelet." He supplied before she could ask.

Poppy looked like flames could actually appear from her nostrils. She cursed under her breath and looked through her bag of medical supplies.

"Take off your shirt." She ordered Harry.

Harry gave a look of discomfort at his parents but neither noticed. With a resigned sigh, he painfully pulled off his shirt. James and Lily could only stare at the sight. Harry's left arm was horridly red and bruised. It looked like he had smashed it against something repeatedly. The bruised, sore, red skin started at Harry's wrist and went all the way up past his shoulder and across his chest. It was swollen as well. James could tell that it was because the bartra bracelet had been activated so many times. He stared at Harry as he diverted his eyes and didn't look in his direction at all.

Poppy took out the salve and started taking out copious amounts and as gently as she could, she started treating the bruises. Harry tried not to show how much it hurt but after a few minutes he pulled away from her.

"It's the only way it'll get better." Poppy told him, a little too sternly.

"I know. It's just…can you do it later?" he asked, hoping she would agree.

Poppy handed the slave to Lily, who took it silently. Poppy finished her examination and looked over at Harry, her expression softening.

"How long were you with the Dementors?" she asked, her voice breaking slightly.

Harry looked uneasily at her but answered.

"I don't really know. I kind of lost track of time." he said without looking at his parents.

"That gives me my answer." Poppy said. She turned to Lily and started giving her instructions.

Harry could feel the potion James had given him rebel in his stomach. His stomach began to cramp and all he could do was sit up in time before he vomited violently. Lily spelled away the mess and started to rub Harry's back as he recovered.

James looked away and started pacing the floor. He was trying very hard to stop himself from going back to the Ministry and killing the Minister.

"How many doses of Vertiserum were you given?" Poppy asked, recognising the symptoms of overdosing.

"Four" Harry answered.

"Were they trying to poison you?" Poppy asked, outraged.

"No, they just didn't believe me." Harry answered dryly.

James had enough and turned to face Harry.

"This is exactly why I wanted you to stay out of the Ministry's way! I knew something like this would happen!" he erupted. Harry looked over at him but didn't say anything. "I tried so hard to keep you out of the Ministry's radar but you just had to make yourself known, didn't you!" James continued angrily. "Every time you pulled a stunt to distance yourself away from the Ministry, I feared it would result in something like this happening to you. Your little trick to catch the 'Dark Prince' was only asking for trouble!" he yelled.

"James" Lily exclaimed, shocked that he would speak to Harry like this when he was in pain.

James stopped and realised what he was doing. Harry had not been home for even an hour and he was already starting on his case. Harry was keeping his eyes diverted from him. James walked over to Harry and kneeled next to him.

"I can't lose you again." He said, speaking honestly, his voice cracking with grief at the thought. "When I saw you today, with the…those Dementors. I…I was certain that I was too late. I…I can't lose you, Harry." He said, barely holding back his emotions.

Harry met his dad's eyes and for the first time he saw beyond the anger and rage. He saw that his dad was scared, afraid of what could have happened if he hadn't arrived on time. Harry reached over and with a trembling hand, he held onto his dad's hand.

"You won't lose me." Harry assured him.

James reached over and kissed Harry's forehead before taking him into a strong embrace. Poppy had to pull Harry out of James' embrace.

"If you've finished trying to smother him, I would like to continue with my examination." She scolded, lightly. The atmosphere was so tense that she had to say something to lighten it.

James smiled weakly and rubbed his eyes dry.

"How did you find me?" Harry asked. He had been wondering that.

"I arrived at the Ministry and Kingsley told me what had happened. He told me that you gave evidence to prove your innocence but Fudge disregarded it. I snuck in through the back, like I did last year and tried looking for you. I don't know how but it felt like you were calling out to me. I swear it was almost like I could hear your voice in my head. I just followed my instinct and it led me to you." James explained.

Harry didn't tell him that he had in fact been calling out to him. He didn't know why, but he couldn't bring himself to tell him that.

"Where did Fudge send you? I was trying to get a hold of you using the mirror but I couldn't get you." Lily asked.

James' expression changed to one of pure rage.

"He sent me and the others to a magical lockdown area. We didn't realise until we got there that we were in a magical lockdown. I knew he sent all of us there for a reason. We couldn't apparate, use any portkeys and no magical item was working. That was probably why the mirror didn't work. Even our brooms didn't work. We had to travel out of there on foot. That's why it took us so long to get back." James answered.

It was only then that Harry saw the exhaustion on his face. He had been through so much today as well.

"I can't believe Fudge thought he would get away with this." Lily said.

James turned to look at Lily and Harry.

"I want you to know that I'm not letting Fudge get away with this! If I don't get Fudge thrown out of office then my name isn't James Potter!"

xxx

"That's enough. I can't eat anymore." Harry said, leaning away from his mum.

"Have a little more." Lily urged, handing him the extremely large block of chocolate.

Harry shook his head.

"I can't eat anymore. I'm stuffed." He said, feeling the vast amounts of chocolate inside him rebel.

"Harry, you've had prolonged exposure to Dementors. The more chocolate you eat, the better you'll recover." Lily explained and tried to push the large bar in his hand.

"Seriously mum, I can't eat anymore. You've already made me eat the amount a small sweet shop would sell." Harry responded.

Lily raised an eyebrow at him.

"That's a bit of an exaggeration." She said. "Fine, if you can't eat anymore chocolate then how about drinking some?" she got up and rushed to the kitchen before Harry could argue.

Harry looked around the empty living room. Poppy had left with strict instructions for Harry to eat as much chocolate as he could. He still couldn't get rid of the cold feeling that had settled in the pit of his stomach. His hands were still shaking but Harry knew that was more because of the memories he was forced to live through than the cold.

Damien was still upstairs. James had gone to check up on him. Harry was sure they would be coming back downstairs shortly.

Lily walked back into the room, carrying two steaming mugs of hot chocolate.

"Here, finish that." She said, handing Harry a mug.

"I don't think I've ever had this much chocolate in my life." Harry joked as he took the mug from her.

"Well Poppy said that the excess vertiserum you consumed means your stomach can't handle any potions just yet. So we have to use other methods to heal you. Chocolate is the best thing to eat after a Dementor attack." Lily explained.

Harry nodded his head and drank the hot chocolate quietly.

"I'm going to get started with dinner soon. Is there anything in particular you want to eat?" Lily asked. She reckoned Harry needed some extra pampering after what had happened.

Harry shook his head.

"I'm really not hungry. I'm filled up on this stuff" Harry said holding up the mug.

"You have to eat something." Lily said.

"Maybe it's an idea not to fill me up with sweets before dinner then." Harry joked making Lily smile.

"When was the last time you ate something?" she asked him, losing her smile.

Harry threw her a look but Lily ignored it. She waited for his answer.

"Harry? I asked you something." She said.

"A few days ago." Harry mumbled the answer.

"So you didn't eat the food I left for you?" she asked, growing more annoyed with him.

Harry shook his head again.

"What have you been surviving on?" Lily said. She only meant it as a rhetorical question and so was very surprised when Harry answered her.

"Nutritional potions"

Lily was taken aback by that.

"Nutritional potions?" She asked, hiding her surprise. "You know, you could have just eaten the food I cooked instead." She said, trying to mask the hurt.

Harry didn't say anything and continued to look at his hands.

"Where did you get the nutritional potion from?" Lily asked.

"This morning, when I was in the potions lab, I was making up a batch of nutritional potion." Harry answered.

"So you went through the trouble of brewing a potion rather than just joining the rest of your family and having a proper meal?" Lily asked, pushing down the extreme anger she felt.

"I didn't want to cause any more fights." Harry said simply, not looking at Lily.

Lily felt her heart jump at his words.

"Harry, do you think it's acceptable to skip meal times and not eat anything just to avoid fights? You can't live on nutritional potions. They are a supplement to food not a replacement."

She couldn't help feel guilty at Harry's behaviour. She had been really hard on Harry and had said a lot of things to him the first day they had returned from Hogwarts. It must have made Harry want to avoid talking to everyone.

"I know what a nutritional potion is. It may be meant as only a supplement but you can easily live on it." Harry said a little quickly.

"How would you know that?" Lily asked annoyed.

Harry looked at her and Lily caught a sudden shift in his eyes. An emotion had flickered there momentarily but Harry was quick to hide it.

"It's something I learned." He mumbled and looked away.

Lily felt like someone had downed her in icy cold water. She suddenly understood how Harry knew that. She had seen it in Harry's eyes, before he hid it. The haunted look that always appeared in Harry's eyes, when someone mentioned his past, his childhood. Lily knew, without having to be told, that Harry must have been forced to survive on this potion when he was a child. She still remembered, from Harry's pensive memories, how Harry had looked when he was only three or four years old. She remembered his thin and malnourished form. Lily realised that Voldemort's abuse wasn't restricted to only physical beatings. He had pretended to be James and beat Harry but that wasn't enough to break him, so he starved him as well. The realisation made Lily physically sick.

Composing herself as best as she could she faced Harry, placing a hand on his.

"You're not taking this potion. Not when your mother is still alive. I don't ever want you take these as a substitute to food. You can take them as supplements if you want but never again are you to take this in the place of a meal. I don't care how many fights happen at the dinner table, from now on you are having every meal with us!" she said, barely holding back her tears.

Harry actually looked a little relived.

"I thought...you were angry with me so I just figured that you wouldn't want me to join you." Harry confessed.

"Just because I was angry with you doesn't mean that I don't want you around me. You could have taken your meal in your room if you were that mad at us." Lily told him. "And I wasn't that mad at you." She added.

"You said not to talk to you. That sounds pretty mad to me." Harry said, but he had a small smile on his face.

"Did you, I mean, when you were growing up, did you have to rely on nutritional potions?" Lily asked, her voice shaking.

"Not all the time. I used to steal these when I couldn't take the hunger anymore." Harry answered without really meaning to. It just slipped out.

Harry regretted telling her that. He quickly looked away. Why did he say that? Lily was looking awfully close to tears. Luckily at that point, the door opened and James walked in with Damien in tow.

Lily led James to the kitchen, no doubt as to tell him about the nutritional potion, leaving Harry alone with Damien. Harry was sitting up on the sofa, a blanket draped around him. Damien stood awkwardly near the door. Both boys looked awkwardly at each other. Their argument and fight came rushing back to both of them and it made the situation all that more awkward. Damien decided, being the youngest, that he had to take the first step.

"How…how are you feeling?" he asked, taking a step nearer to him. Harry had looked awful when he came back from the Ministry. He was looking a lot better now.

"I'm fine." Harry answered his usual answer.

Damien nodded his head and looked around the room so he wouldn't have to look at Harry. After a few minutes passed and Harry made no effort to talk, Damien gave up and turned to leave.

"If you need anything, let me know." he said and turned to the door.

"I need you to stop acting like a prat and come here!" Harry said.

Damien stared at him in surprise.

"What do you mean? How am I acting like a prat?" Damien asked, confused as to why Harry was speaking to him like that.

"You are acting like I'm a house guest or something. 'let me know if you need anything' what do you think I'll need that I can't get by myself?" Harry asked angrily.

"Oh, I get it. This is your macho act again, isn't it? Well, I'm sorry for saying that to you. I take it all back. You can just go to hell!" Damien said. He had thought Harry would have been nicer after what had happened but he was just the same.

"Get lost!" Harry hissed at him.

Damien left, slamming the door behind him. He was halfway up the stairs when he stopped and realised what he was doing. He had come so close to losing Harry today. He wasn't going to let a stupid falling out ruin his relationship with his only brother. He turned around and walked slowly back to the living room. He walked inside to see Harry sitting with his head in his hands. His face was hidden but Damien knew he was just as upset as he was.

Damien walked over to him and sat down on the chair that Lily had been sitting on. Harry looked up at the sound and glowered at Damien.

"I thought I told you to get lost!" he said.

"You did, but this is my house as well and I want to sit in my living room." Damien answered coolly.

Harry looked at Damien for a moment before throwing his blanket to the side.

"Fine, then I'll go." He said and got to his feet.

"Harry, wait." Damien said and reached over and grabbed him by his arm, in an effort to stop him from leaving.

Unfortunately, he grabbed a hold of Harry's left arm and pulled hard to stop him. Pain shot up through Harry's arm so fast it made him dizzy. His knees buckled and he fell back. Damien was on his feet in moments. He didn't understand what had happened. Surely he couldn't have hurt Harry, all he did was hold onto his arm.

Harry's eyes had watered with the pain. He tried hard to get his harsh breathing under control.

"Harry, what's wrong? What happened?" Damien asked, feeling panic rise at the look of pain on Harry's face.

Harry didn't answer and clutched onto his arm. Damien noticed and as gently as he could, he pulled the sleeve of Harry's shirt up. His eyes widened in horror as he saw the red, bruised skin.

"What? What happened? Harry, how did this happen?" Damien asked in concern.

"Bartra bracelet." Harry answered.

Damien knew that the bracelet was that fiery red band on Harry's wrist that he had seen the day the Daywalkers had first attacked. He had no idea it how it worked but knew it caused immense pain. His heart filled with anger at the thought if the Aurors hurting Harry with the bracelet.

"Those bastards!" he said angrily.

Harry looked over at him and even though he was in pain, Harry found a smile tug at his lips.

Damien saw the smile and looked at him.

"What? Why are you smiling like that?" he asked.

Harry shook his head.

"It's nothing. I just find it amusing that you hate me but still get angry when someone else tries to hurt me." Harry told him.

Damien looked appalled at the allegation.

"I don't hate you. When did I ever say that I hate you?" he said.

Harry tilted his head to the side and looked at Damien.

"You called me an inconsiderate jerk who uses everyone and doesn't care about anyone and you've told me to go to hell twice." Harry said in an even voice.

"You got hate from that?" Damien asked, wearing a sheepish grin, trying to mask the guilt.

Harry smiled and leaned back on the sofa. He knew Damien didn't hate him but he enjoyed making him feel guilty anyway. Damien sighed before running a hand through his dark locks, reminding Harry strongly of James.

"Look, Harry. I said a lot of stupid things to you but I didn't mean any of them. I only said them because I was angry with you and I was being hurtful." Damien said in a sincere tone. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have spoken to you like that. I really am sorry." Damien added, looking at Harry.

"Okay" Harry responded.

"So, is there anything you said to me that you didn't mean and only said to be hurtful?" Damien asked after a few minutes.

Harry smirked and looked at Damien.

"No, can't think of anything." he said.

Damien gave Harry a mock glare making Harry laugh.

"Come on, Damy. You know I trust you. Hell, at times, you're the only one I can trust." Harry said making the younger boy feel at ease.

Damien smiled and felt the weight life away from him. It felt good to hear Harry say that. Damien leaned back in the chair and talked to Harry about what happened at the Ministry. Harry told him everything from how he was interrogated to how he took Blake's wand and defended himself against the Dementors. He finished by telling him how James had come at the right time and saved him.

Damien was looking quite pale by the end of it.

"So it was Blake that ordered the Kiss, not Fudge?" Damien asked.

"Yeah" Harry answered.

Damien thought about it. He couldn't understand how someone could do such a thing. Everyone knew that Charles Blake hated James Potter. It was like this since their days at Hogwarts but to actually try and kill Harry just to get back at James was extreme behaviour.

Damien could hear his mum and dad talking in the kitchen and the smell of dinner was making his stomach rumble. He hadn't eaten anything since the morning. He couldn't even think about food after Harry had been taken by Aurors.

"Can you believe dad's not an Auror anymore?" Damien asked after a few minutes.

Harry shook his head.

"I think he's going to regret that. I don't think he meant it." Harry said.

"Are you serious?" Damien asked, sitting up in the chair. "Merlin, Harry, didn't you see how angry dad was? There was no way he was going to continue as a Ministry Auror after the way they treated you. And having Dementors there…" Damien shuddered. He had never dealt with Dementors before but from what he had heard and learnt about them, he never wanted to deal with one.

"I just think dad quit his job without really thinking about it." Harry said.

"Is it true that to fight off a Dementor you have to think about something that makes you really happy?" Damien asked.

Harry nodded his head and leaned back his head. He was so tired, he needed to sleep.

"Can I ask you something?" Damien asked.

"You just did." Harry answered.

"Who did you think about?" Damien asked, ignoring Harry's remark. "When you were with the Dementors, what happy memory did you use to fight them? Who did you think about?"

"I don't want to say." Harry answered.

"Why?" Damien asked, confused.

"Because you already have a big enough head as it is and I don't want it getting any bigger." Harry said.

The look on Damien's face was priceless. He was gaping at Harry, his usual inane smile on his face.

"Me? Your happy memory was about me?" he asked with a laugh.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, wipe that smile off your face!" Harry playfully scolded.

Damien just laughed and continued to look very proud of himself. Just then James popped his head into the room.

"Dinner's ready. Harry, do you want your food out here?" he asked.

"No, the table will be fine." Harry replied getting to his feet.

He was still feeling exhausted beyond belief but the chocolate and talking with Damien, had gotten rid of the cold caused by the Dementors. Harry walked, albeit a little shakily, to the kitchen and sat down with the rest of his family.

"I still can't believe you thought of me." Damien whispered as he sat down next to him.

"Oh, for God's sake, get over it!" Harry told him.

"Did you think of anyone else?" Damien asked, as he started piling food onto his plate.

An image of Ginny flashed in Harry's mind, her red hair framing her smiling face.

"No, I didn't think of anyone else." Harry replied quietly, as he picked up his plate and slowly started on his dinner.

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I did tell you it was going to be sappy. Well after the last chapter, what did you expect? LOL!! Let me know what you all thought. Cheers!!


	36. Harry's first Order meeting

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks for all the great reviews! Here's the next chappie. Enjoy!!

**Chapter Thirty Six**

Harry arrived at number twelve Grimmauld place and couldn't help but grimace. He had horrid memories here. When he had been captured by the Order, he had been held prisoner in this very house. It felt bizarre to walk back in here of his own freewill.

The fireplace behind him burst into green flames once again and Harry turned to see his dad walk out from the green flames. He walked over to Harry and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on, Harry. It can't be all that bad." James said quietly with a smile.

"I just want this meeting done with so I can leave." Harry responded and walked to the door at the far end.

The meeting was supposed to have taken place a lot earlier but it had to be rescheduled because of Harry's health. It had taken Harry almost a week to recover from the horrid Dementor attack at the Ministry. Dumbledore had suggested that it was important for Harry to attend this meeting as it was going to be focused on the Dark Prince impostor.

Contrary to what Harry initially thought, James hadn't regretted his decision to leave his job as an Auror. He didn't share what his plans were but Harry knew he was planning something to get back at Fudge and Blake. Harry had told him that it was Blake who had ordered the Dementors to administer the Kiss. It didn't make James any less angry with Fudge but it increased his anger towards Blake. Now both men were on his list.

Harry waited for Damien to appear just before his mum. Damien was in a mood because he wasn't allowed in the meeting.

"Harry's going to tell me what you discussed anyway! Why can't I just come in?" he tried again.

"Because, you're not of age and you can't become a member of the Order until you are of age. The meeting is only for members of the Order." Lily explained.

"Harry's not a member and yet he gets to attend." Damien said, quick to point that fact out.

Lily looked a little thrown by Damien's observation. She sighed and turned to him.

"Harry's here because Dumbledore asked for him to be here. The subject of the meeting affects Harry directly so it only makes sense that he should be a part of it." She explained.

Harry scowled at her response but didn't say anything. He looked over to Damien.

"I'll tell you everything afterwards." He whispered as Damien was led upstairs by Lily. Damien gave him a smile in response.

James led Harry to a room on the far end. Harry was surprised as he entered the medium sized parlour and saw a few people sitting around a wooden table. Sirius, Remus, Tonks and Dumbledore looked up at him and smiled at him. Harry hadn't seen anyone since his departure from the Ministry. They had all been told by an irate Poppy, that Harry needed complete rest and no one was to disturb him so that meant that everyone had stayed away from Potter Manor and just let Harry recover with his family.

"What's going on?" Harry asked, perplexed as to why they were sitting here. Surely the Order meeting comprised of all the members and not just a handful.

"What does it look like? We're having a small meeting of our own before the big one." Sirius replied.

Harry looked over at his dad to see him smiling.

"We all thought that it would be best to speak about the meeting issues amongst just us before having the proper meeting. Seeing that this is your first meeting and all." He explained.

"First and last." Harry reminded him. He had only agreed to come since he was curious to know what information the Order had got on the impostor. After this meeting, Harry had sworn to never set foot in this house again.

James looked at Harry, a saddened expression on his face. He really wanted Harry to see that the Order was different from the Ministry and didn't wish him any harm. But seeing what Harry had gone through, James didn't push him.

Harry walked over with James and sat down. Harry sat in the seat furthest from Dumbledore and refused as much as to look in his direction. Tonks leaned over at once and asked Harry how he was. Harry responded with a simple 'fine' and continued to look around the scarcely furnished parlour.

As soon as Lily made her appearance, Dumbledore stood up.

"Now that you all are here, I'm going to take my leave. The other members are due to arrive in the next hour or so. Once you have finished here, please make your way to the usual room for the meeting." Dumbledore said politely and left.

Harry sighed with relief. So Dumbledore wasn't going to be a part of this small meeting. That was good, he didn't have to suffer his presence for that long. He looked around the table, wondering who was going to start the meeting.

James cleared his throat and started.

"Okay, so the purpose of this meeting is really to go over what will be discussed with the rest of the Order. I think we'll all agree that this 'Dark Prince' has caused enough damage. We have to put together all the clues we have and see if we can come any closer to figuring out his identity." He said.

Harry noticed that everyone around him had serious expressions on their faces. Sirius was the first to respond.

"I think the mystery is pretty much solved. After what happened last week, it's pretty obvious that the impostor is Blake."

Harry snapped his head around to stare at Sirius.

"You think it's Blake?" he asked in surprise.

Sirius shared a look with Remus and Tonks before looking back at Harry, an amused look on his face.

"You _don't_ think it's Blake?" he asked with sarcasm. "I think it's obvious."

"We have to look at this objectively." Lily said cutting across them. "The first thing is the initials. C.B. could stand for Charles Blake. The second thing is that Blake has shown enough animosity towards Harry to suggest that he could try and frame him for attacks, to get him thrown into Azkaban." Her voice shook a little as she said the name of the wizard prison. Whether it was from fear of Azkaban or anger at Blake, Harry didn't know.

"Blake's always been against James, right from our first year at Hogwarts. He's insanely jealous and would do anything to knock James down a peg or two." Sirius supplied.

"It would be a way for him to get back at James for good. Remember how happy he was when he found out James' son was Harry, the infamous Dark Prince? He spent all his time jeering at James. I can see him pretending to be the 'Dark Prince'. It's just something his sick little mind would get pleasure out of doing." Tonks said her face screwed up to show her opinion of the Auror.

Harry was quiet, he didn't say anything. James watched him for a few minutes before asking his opinion.

"Harry? What do you think?" he asked quietly.

Harry looked up at all of them, his eyes taking in all of their expressions. They all had pretty much convinced themselves that Blake was guilty.

"I don't think its Blake." Harry said quietly.

"Why?" Sirius and Tonks asked at the same time.

"I just don't think it's him." Harry answered.

"Harry, think about it. Look at the evidence. His initials match, he has a motive, he hates you and James with vigour and he's a scumbag that could be capable of doing anything! Look at what he did to you in the Ministry. The first time you were arrested, last year, he tortured you when it was his duty to get you medical help. And look at what he tried to do last week! He sent Dementors on you, tried to get you Kissed! If that doesn't show you he's guilty then I don't know what will." Sirius finished.

"I'm not saying that Blake isn't an enemy, I'm just saying that he isn't the impostor." Harry explained.

"Why do you think he's not the impostor?" Remus asked.

Harry looked around at him. This was the first time Remus had spoken to him after his failed plan to catch the 'Dark Prince' wannabe. Remus was staring at Harry with a soft expression. Harry couldn't see any hidden anger or annoyance.

"When I was fighting him, at Hogwarts, I could sense a sort of familiarity from him." Harry started to explain.

"Well, there you go! He seemed familiar because you have already met Blake. That was why you thought you knew him!" Sirius said enthusiastically.

"Let me finish." Harry said annoyed. "He seemed familiar but I know it wasn't Blake. Firstly I would have been able to tell if it was him and secondly, there is no way Blake could survive a duel with me. I would have knocked him out in seconds. Whoever this impostor is, he's got talent." Harry begrudgingly admitted.

The adults had to agree. The fight between Harry and this 'Dark Prince' was spectacular. All of them had witnessed it and what Harry said was true. If that had been Blake on the rooftops with Harry, he would have fallen on his backside within seconds.

"So, do you have any ideas who this person could be?" Tonks asked dejectedly. She along with Sirius had convinced themselves that the impostor was Blake. It felt awful to be back to square one again.

Harry shook his head.

"No, like I said, he seemed very familiar to me but for the life of me I can't figure out why." He answered, rubbing his head absent-mindedly.

James felt pity swell in his chest at the sight. Harry was going through so much and through it all he had been alone. He along with Lily and Damien had turned on Harry when they should have been helping him. He pushed down the guilt. That was in the past. He was going to make sure he never left Harry alone like that again.

An hour easily passed and the six of them continued their discussion. Sirius was still pushing Blake as the number one suspect.

"I say we keep a close eye on him. He has something to do with this, I just know it!" he exclaimed.

"Come on, we better join the rest. I'm sure everyone has arrived." Lily said glancing at the clock on the wall and getting to her feet.

Harry stood up, feeling very uneasy about joining the rest.

"Can't I just go home? I mean, we've discussed everything. What else do we need to discuss?" he asked.

"I think it would be a good idea to be a part of the meeting." Lily said.

Harry disagreed but realised that he had nothing to lose by going. It was only another hour or so. He could manage that in the company of Aurors and Dumbledore, couldn't he?

He saw his dad talking in hushed tones with Sirius and Remus, a strange gleam in his eyes. Lily noticed as well. Both Harry and Lily heard the words 'two days until full moon'.

"James? What are talking about?" Lily asked.

James looked over at Lily, the gleam in his eyes was quickly disguised.

"Oh, nothing." He replied. He gave Remus and Sirius a pointed look and both men shared a look with each other, sinister smiles on their faces.

"Okay, what are you three up to? What are you planning to do on full moon?" Lily asked. She was now accustomed to pick up when the three friends were planning something that usually leads to trouble.

"Does this have something to do with Blake?" Tonks asked all of a sudden. "Because if it does, then I want in!" she added with a smirk.

Lily turned to face James, her emerald eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"What are you planning on doing to him?" she asked sternly.

"Nothing" James replied and then smirked as Sirius and Remus shared a look with him. "Other than rip him from limb to limb." He added.

"Rip his head off." Sirius supplied.

"And pretty much tear him apart." Remus finished.

Harry was staring at the three friends in awe. He never thought they would have such a side to them.

"What?! Please tell me you're joking! You can't do that!" Lily yelled at them.

"You're right, we can't do that." James said, his expression softening. "James, Sirius and Remus can't possibly do something like that but in two days time, on the night of the full moon, Prongs, Padfoot and Moony can!"

The three men smirked as Lily looked like she was going to faint. Tonks was sniggering quietly at the sight.

"This better be nothing more than big talk!" Lily warned them.

"After what he did to Harry?!" Sirius exclaimed.

"You shouldn't be talking like this! Blake will get what's coming to him. But to talk like this, in front of, of…it's not right!" Lily trailed off, sending a meaningful look in Harry's direction.

Harry smiled, his mum was so worried about others talking about violence in front of him, Harry, the boy who killed when he was ten years old.

"I hate to break up this gory, bloodied vengeance plan but I can fight my own battles." He told them with a smirk.

"You can do what you like, but I have my own score to settle with him. He's not going to get away with treating my son like he did." James said evenly.

"All of you stop it!" Lily said working herself up.

"I think we better go." Tonks said, guiding Lily out before she completely lost it. Remus and Sirius followed, reassuring Lily that they were just making big talk and weren't really going to kill Blake.

Harry was left alone with James. He gave James a genuine smile. It meant a lot to him to hear James talk about what he would do to Blake in return for hurting Harry. Even if he knew James didn't have it in him to actually carry out the threat. Just to hear him saying it was enough.

"Come on." James said leading Harry from the room towards the main meeting.

xxx

Harry walked alongside his dad and entered a large room. It was already filled with people. Harry recognised most of them. Amelia Bones was sitting in a chair, next to both of her sons, David and Darrell. They waved enthusiastically at Harry who gave them a curt nod in response. Most of Hogwarts staff was present along with the school nurse. Harry smiled as he spotted Poppy sitting with McGonagall. He saw Frank and Alice talking animatedly with another pair of wizards.

The usual crowd of Aurors were there. He spotted Moody and Kingsley talking intently with Tonks, Remus and Sirius.

There were many more but Harry knew them only by face not names.

Harry hesitantly sat down. He was anxious for this meeting to be over. A part of him was curious as to see what other information the Order had got on this 'Dark Prince' wannabe but the other part of him wanted to leave. He glanced at the door as it opened to reveal the Weasley clan. Molly, Arthur, Percy, Bill, Fleur, Fred and George all piled into the room.

They all took their seats, Remus and Sirius sat next to James and Lily and waited for Dumbledore to arrive. Harry scanned the room and saw that one person was missing.

"Is Snape still not back from his vacation?" Harry asked.

"No, he's still not back." James answered, a little stiffly. He was still not on friendly terms with the greasy nosed Professor but owed him the lives of his children, Harry and Damien. Without his help, he would have lost Harry.

"Someone has got to tell that pale bastard that he's never going to tan." Sirius whispered making Harry grin.

"Sirius!" Lily reprimanded him.

"Loosen up Lily! I'm only having a laugh." Sirius said wrapping an arm around her and giving her a crushing hug.

"He saved my family. I don't like you talking like that about him. I'm eternally grateful to him." she said, brushing Sirius away.

They didn't have to wait long for Dumbledore as the white haired wizard walked inside only moments later. Harry noticed four people walking inside with him. He was caught off guard when he recognised all of them.

Ron and Hermione were walking behind Dumbledore, their eyes scanned the large room and they smiled at a few faces. But it was the other two that had grabbed Harry's attention. Narcissa Malfoy and Marco Black walked in and closed the door behind them. Narcissa caught Harry's eye and quickly looked away from him.

"What's going on?" Harry asked James.

"I don't know." James answered honestly.

At that point Dumbledore walked up to the front of the room and addressed everyone.

"Welcome everyone. Before we begin our meeting I would like to introduce a few new members to our Order." Dumbledore gestured politely to the four people standing next to him. Ron and Hermione looked a little embarrassed by the attention but smiled at everyone. Narcissa and Marco seemed to hardly notice the crowd of people staring at them. Narcissa was making an effort not to look at Harry while Marco openly stared at him.

Harry couldn't believe it. Truthfully he wasn't that surprised that Marco had joined the Order. He had always been against Voldemort but the only reason he didn't openly rebel against him was out of fear of what would happen to his sisters. Narcissa was married to a loyal Death Eater and Bella was one of Voldemort's most faithful servants. He didn't want his actions to hurt them and so he had quietly suffered Voldemort's reign of terror. However, now his previously married sister had left her Death Eater husband and the other one had died at Voldemort's hand. Harry could understand why Marco would rush at the chance to join with Dumbledore and track down the remaining Death Eaters as well as to stop anyone else from becoming the next Dark Lord.

Harry was surprised at Narcissa. He never thought she would have joined Dumbledore. He was finding it difficult to believe that his best friend's mother, Lucius Malfoy's ex-wife, was shaking hands with Dumbledore. He had to fight to control himself. He kept reminding himself that the woman was Draco's mother. That helped him control the murderous urge that had risen in him.

Dumbledore was speaking but Harry had not heard a word. He was too busy dwelling on Narcissa and her bad decisions. He snapped out of his thoughts when he felt James gently elbow him. Harry looked up to see James' concerned gaze.

"Are you okay?" he whispered, casting a look in Narcissa's way.

"Yeah" Harry whispered back. He turned to focus his attention on Dumbledore.

"I think the first thing to do is to try and determine our next course of action. The Minister is finding the current affairs too much to handle so I think it is mandatory that we concentrate on tracking down this man who is disguising himself as the 'Dark Prince'." Dumbledore was saying.

A few people looked over at Harry at the mention of his nickname but Harry was too busy looking at James to notice. His dad had a smirk on his face at the mention of Fudge's current problems. The media was having a great time reporting the incident with Harry's arrest. Once the truth was revealed about how Harry was treated by the Ministry the papers were filled with nothing but outrage at the Minister's behaviour. Fudge was trying to restore his reputation and save his failing career.

The thing that was causing most of the uproar was the order to administer the Kiss to Harry. Most of the wizarding population saw that as a breach of law and trust. There had been no trial and Harry was being held at the Ministry where there was no need to have Dementors. The argument was that if the Minister could do such a thing to Harry, what was to stop him from doing that to someone else. The fact that Harry was innocent as well only made things all the more difficult for Fudge. Harry had failed to mention to anyone, other than his family, that it wasn't Fudge who ordered the Kiss. He wasn't in any particular rush to clear up that particular misunderstanding.

As for the wizarding community, Harry had given up trying to keep up with their opinion of him. One day they were all out for his blood and the next they were talking about him as if he was a tragic hero. He couldn't keep up with them so he just ignored them.

Harry tried to pay attention to what Dumbledore was saying but nothing he said was making any sense to him. All he could do was stare at Narcissa and Marco sitting near the front. He heard his name being mentioned and his focus shifted to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore had said something about a wand and had said Harry's name. Harry realised that he was talking about his wand, the one that he had thought had been destroyed with Voldemort. His hand automatically went to his pocket. He felt the comforting weight of the wand sit in his pocket and he relaxed. It had been an unexplainable comfort to have his old wand back with him. It almost felt like a part of him had come back.

"I think it is important to try and determine how this impostor got a hold of Harry's wand. He planted it next to Mr Nott's body. As I have already informed all of you, Mr Theodore Nott was in league with the 'Dark Prince' and I can only assume after his cover was blown, he was brutally murdered and used as another ploy to frame Harry." A look of deep sadness came over the wizard's face as he talked about his student. Harry could tell he mourned the death of the Slytherin, regardless of what he had done.

"How did he find the wand?" Kingsley asked.

Dumbledore looked pointedly at a young man, in his mid twenties sitting in the second row. The man stood up and Harry recognised him as one of the Aurors that had come to the Duelling club.

"Auror Ferguson can perhaps shed some light on this." Dumbledore said and then sat down.

Harry watched as the Auror stood up and addressed the room.

"I have with me the report that Aurors Lesley and Jackson gave last October. There was a suspicious incident that occurred during their time at Riddle Manor." Harry's head snapped up at the mention of his previous home. His shocked gaze focused on the Auror. He was holding up the report but wasn't reading from it. "It says that both Aurors Lesley and Jackson witnessed Auror Davis arriving and entering the Manor. When he failed to answer to their shouts, Aurors Lesley and Jackson followed him into the Manor. But there was no sign of him. They alerted the Ministry and a full search was carried out but nothing seemed to have been moved. Auror Davis was taken into custody and questioned but he claimed to not have gone anywhere near the Manor. Aurors Lesley and Jackson even allowed their memories of the incident to be submitted in the investigation. It says here that the memories showed a man _similar_ to Auror Davis but since he didn't speak to the Aurors and most of the time he had his back to them, it was inconclusive evidence and Auror Davis was released."

Ferguson handed the report over to Dumbledore before continuing.

"It would be a fair assumption to make that the wand was taken from the Manor that night. I have brought the details of what items were listed to be in Riddle Manor and although the wand was not listed in it I think it must have been there. It was probably hidden in the Manor which is why its disappearance didn't raise any alarms."

Harry could feel the Aurors words ring in his ears. But his initial reaction wasn't concerned with his wand, but what business the Aurors had being in Riddle Manor.

"What are Aurors doing in Riddle Manor in the first place?" Harry asked, without caring that he had attracted the room's focus to him.

Ferguson looked surprised with Harry's question. Everyone was under the impression that despite being present, Harry wasn't going to participate in the meeting.

Looking quite nervous with Harry's cold glare, Ferguson answered.

"There are a number of items which are of a dangerous nature in Riddle Manor…"

"Yes, I'm quite aware of what is in Riddle Manor!" Harry snapped at him.

Clearing his throat nervously, Ferguson recovered.

"Yes, of course, well the…the Ministry were reluctant to leave these items inside the Manor, for fear of them being stolen and used so they tried to remove them…"

Ferguson stopped talking as Harry shot to his feet. James was making no attempt to hold Harry back. James knew from previous encounters that Ferguson was afraid of Harry. It was rather unfortunate that he had to tell Harry news that was guaranteed to anger him. He watched as did the rest of the room as Harry walked over to stand before the Auror. Ferguson stood his ground and didn't move as Harry glared at him. Whether this was because he was adamant not to cower before him or because he was frozen stiff out of fear, no one knew.

"You raided Riddle Manor?" Harry asked in a deathly quiet tone.

"No, we didn't raid it! We…the Ministry were only trying to act in the safest of ways. We were only going to take the dangerous items but…but we…we couldn't." he trailed off.

Harry cocked up an eyebrow in response.

"The items in question couldn't be removed. There were charms placed on them that didn't allow their removal." Ferguson finished lamely.

The corners of Harry's mouth twitched but he resisted the urge to smile. That sounded like something Voldemort would do. His sticking charms were unbreakable. His spell work was virtually impossible to reverse.

"The Ministry should have known better. Voldemort always was possessive about his things." Harry replied.

The room hushed to complete silence at the mention of the deceased Dark Lord. Every eye was fixed to Harry and the white faced Ferguson. James was surprised at the lack of emotion he was feeling at hearing Harry talk like this. He put it down to the fact that he was probably getting used to hearing Harry talk about Voldemort in a protective way.

"So, since your plan to raid Voldemort's home and steal his possessions didn't work, why are the Aurors still at Riddle Manor?" Harry asked icily.

"For the protection of the Manor." Ferguson replied unhappily.

"You mean they're there to make sure nothing gets stolen?" Harry asked.

"Yes" Ferguson replied.

"Like my wand, for example." Harry asked cynically.

"Yes, I mean no…I…" Ferguson looked around helplessly at Dumbledore, sending him a non verbal plea for help.

James leaned towards Sirius and whispered to him.

"You know, now that I'm not an Auror anymore, Harry seems funnier." He said with a snigger.

Sirius grinned back in response.

"Thank you Auror Ferguson. That will be all from you." Dumbledore said, ending the poor Auror's misery.

Ferguson made to quickly sit down but Harry stopped him before he could.

"I want you to relay a message back to your dear Minister." Harry hissed at him. "Tell him to clear out his men from Riddle Manor and if he doesn't, then I'll make sure he gets first hand experience of what dark magic can really do."

Ferguson just gaped at Harry but nodded his head quickly to show that he understood.

With that, Harry swept out of the room, no longer caring to finish the meeting. He walked out without looking back at anyone, not even Narcissa, who was staring at him, a saddened look on her face.

xxx

Harry looked up as the floo turned green and his mum walked out of the flames. She looked at Harry but didn't say anything to him. Harry knew she was going to be mad at him for walking out of the meeting like that but he had had enough. The news that Fudge had Aurors patrolling outside Riddle Manor had caused a spark of fury to go off inside him.

Harry stood up from the sofa in his living room and stared at Lily, waiting for her to start yelling at him. Lily, however didn't say a word to him. She sent a warm smile in his direction before brushing her cloak and unclipping it before pulling it elegantly away from her shoulders.

Not even a second later the floo turned green and Damien walked out. He caught sight of Harry and rushed over to him.

"You could have told me you were leaving. I was bored out of my mind!" he complained.

Harry ignored him for the time being. He watched as James arrived by floo as well and he too smiled warmly at Harry before taking off his cloak.

Harry was more than surprised. What was going on?

"Are you okay?" he asked his parents.

"Of course we are. Why shouldn't we be?" Lily answered as she walked towards the kitchen.

"You aren't mad at me for walking out?" Harry asked, not believing his parents could dismiss his behaviour like that.

"No, we're not mad." James answered, walking over to him. "If we had been in your shoes, we would probably have done the same thing." he answered.

Harry was staring at James in disbelief. Did he really say that? Was his dad really not going to yell and scream at him?

"I didn't know that Riddle Manor was being watched. I understand you must find it insulting." James carried on in a softer tone.

Harry looked away from James and stared at the ground. He didn't know why he got so mad. He knew it was all in the past and that Potter Manor was his home now. He was happy here but he couldn't stand back and let the Minister violate Riddle Manor like that. It was unbearable to think of Aurors inside the Manor, walking inside the impressive castle, walking along the darkened corridors, handling Voldemort's possessions. Harry had to force himself to stop thinking about it.

"Did, do you know if the Aurors have…moved anything?" Harry asked after a few minutes.

"I talked to Ferguson after the meeting finished." James answered. "He said that most of the Manor is still locked. It seems that after Voldemort's death, the Manor locked itself down. They have only been able to open a few rooms. There are entire wings that are closed off and only passwords can reveal them. They haven't worked out what they are yet." James said.

Harry knew that. Most of the wings were locked in parseltongue. His own wing was locked in parseltongue, not that it existed anymore. Harry was willing to bet his life that Voldemort had destroyed his room along with all his possessions. There was no way Voldemort would have allowed anything that belonged to Harry to stay in his home once he learned what Harry was doing to his Horcruxes.

"They haven't been able to move anything much less remove anything from the Manor. Fudge was insistent that a team of Aurors remain at the scene, in case anyone shows up." James finished.

"He thinks the escaped Death Eaters will return to the Manor?" Harry asked in shock. How stupid was the Minister?

"He thinks there is a chance. Anyway, after your message is sent to him, I doubt he'll send anymore Aurors there. He won't want to take the risk." James chuckled. "Plus, I think the Aurors themselves are getting tired of the pointless patrolling. They messed up anyway. They let your wand be stolen right from under their noses." James said, his tone hardening at the incompetence of the Aurors. "I did want you to stay until the end of the meeting though. There was quite a lot discussed after you left. Ginny's memory of her attack was shown." James cautiously added at the end.

Harry looked away, feeling the awful sting of guilt hit him again.

"Did you get any clues?" he asked, masking his guilt best he could.

James shook his head as he sat down, Damien quickly sat across from him.

"Not really. We all heard his voice but there's nothing distinguishing about it. No accent that can be placed, no characteristic that can help us identify him." James said heavily.

Before Harry could say another word, the fireplace behind him erupted in green flames and a figure rushed out from them. Harry turned around to see his best friend step out from the fireplace. Harry rose to his feet at the sight of Draco.

The blond boy looked at Harry and at once hurried towards him, tension and anger radiating from him.

"Did you hear?" he asked as strode towards him.

"What do you mean 'did you hear'? I was there!" Harry replied walking towards him, showing his own anger and annoyance.

"I don't believe this!" Draco exclaimed, his face twisted in anger.

"How did this happen?" Harry asked.

Draco threw up his arms in exasperation.

"I don't know!"

"Should I be concerned that they both seem to have a language of their own?" Lily asked from the doorway.

"As long as they can understand each other." James replied, getting to his feet.

Damien was still staring at the sight of Draco standing in Potter Manor. He was much friendlier with the Slytherin, ever since both of them had been trapped in Harry's pensive, but still the sight of him standing in Potter Manor was a strange one.

"When did you find out?" Harry asked Draco.

"Just now! They decided to tell me after they had been initiated!" Draco spat the last word out with venom.

Understanding dawned on the other three Potters. Draco was talking about his mum and uncle's decision to join the Order.

Harry suddenly realised that the rest of his family was present. He looked around at them and without saying a word he gestured to Draco to follow him and he left the living room, heading for his room.

"It was nice meeting you!" Lily yelled sarcastically behind them.

"He's a Malfoy, what do you expect?" James said as he sat back down. The Malfoys may be aristocrats but that didn't stop them from being self centred and at times, downright rude.

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Please review to tell me what you thought of this chappie. Cheers!!


	37. One step forward

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! Here's the next chappie. Enjoy!!

**Chapter Thirty Seven**

Harry watched as his blond haired friend paced the length of his room. Draco was doing most of the talking as Harry sat quietly on his bed, watching his friend work himself up.

"I just can't believe she would do something like this!" he seethed.

"She didn't explain why?" Harry asked.

"No, she just told me that it's something she had wanted to do for a while now but couldn't before." Draco spat in anger. "But I know she's lying! She never wanted to join the Order. This is all Marco's doing! He's the one who's brainwashed her into joining!" Draco said, his grey eyes sparking in rage

Harry didn't say anything. Draco already knew what Harry thought of his uncle.

"What did you say when they told you they had joined?" Harry asked.

"What do you think? I went berserk! I told mother I wouldn't speak to her again if she became an Order member. She was going on about how it was the right thing to do, to join Dumbledore. When I told her what I thought of Dumbledore and his Order, Marco started yelling at me. He said the usual rubbish, how I was just like father and that I had been brainwashed by…by, well you know!" he trailed off.

"By me." Harry supplied with a hint of a smirk.

Draco started pacing again, muttering obscenities at his uncle under his breath.

"I hate him! I swear I hate him so much!" Draco said loudly enough for Harry to hear.

"Draco…"

"I know he thinks he's in charge now, but he can't seem to get it through his skull that he doesn't own me!" Draco yelled in frustration.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Ever since Aunty Bella…ever since her funeral, Marco just acts like he's the head of the family. He constantly tells mum not to get upset over father and that it's a good thing he's gone and he acts like I'm his bloody son! Telling me what to do all the time!" he spat.

Harry didn't say anything. Marco was the eldest. In Harry's memory, Marco had always been protective of his younger sisters, Narcissa and Bella. Harry remembered Marco's broken form at Bella's funeral. It wasn't an easy thing, to bury your baby sister.

Draco was still pacing, his hands clenched tightly at his sides.

"I know mum would never have done something like this if Aunty Bella was still alive. Mum wouldn't dare to even dream of joining the Order. And Uncle Marco was always scared senseless of father and uncle Rodolphus. He would never have pulled such a stunt!"

Harry couldn't help agree. Marco really had a problem with both his sisters' husbands; both had been loyal followers of Voldemort.

Draco sighed and came to sit next to Harry, having tired himself out with all the pacing.

"I just can't deal with all this crap anymore. My whole life has just turned on its head and I don't know how to fix it." he confessed tiredly.

"I know what you mean." Harry replied quietly.

Draco looked at Harry, his eyes lingering on Harry's face. He looked away and shook his head.

"When did life get filled with such crap?" Draco asked.

"It always was filled with crap. We were just too young to notice it." Harry answered.

"Harry, we're seventeen not forty!" Draco reprimanded.

Harry smiled and threw Draco a look.

"So what are you going to do now?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. I can't let mum join the Order. Hopefully, she'll change her mind. I told her I'm not going to stay under the same roof as Order members and then I left and…came…here." Draco trailed off, realising what he had done.

"Right, because there are no Order members living here." Harry mocked.

Draco glared at Harry.

"I'm under your roof! You're not an Order member!" he snapped at him.

"Do you think Narcissa will change her mind?" Harry asked, ignoring Draco's angry glare.

"Hopefully she will." He mumbled. "I just wish father…if he was here…" Draco trailed off. He sat with his head lowered.

Harry knew that Draco missed Lucius, whatever their relationship was like, he was still his father. And at a time like this, Draco was bound to miss Lucius. A part of Harry missed Lucius as well. He was the only one left that had been a part of Harry's past.

"I need some alcohol." Draco said finally, getting to his feet.

"Right behind you." Harry replied following Draco out of the room.

xxx

As soon as Harry and Draco stepped out of the room they could hear loud voices coming from downstairs. Draco and Harry recognised the high voice at once. Draco growled something that sounded like 'mother' and headed downstairs.

Both boys walked inside to find Narcissa and Marco standing in the middle of the room, talking loudly with James and Lily. Damien was standing next to his mum. Everyone turned to see the two boys walk into the room.

Harry watched as Narcissa hurried over to Draco. She stood in front of him but didn't reach for him.

"Draco! What is the meaning on this! What were you thinking walking out like that!" she reprimanded.

Draco didn't answer her but glared at her. It was clear to see that it was costing him everything he had to keep in control of his temper.

Harry looked over to see Marco standing next to James, a look of relief on his face. He was just as tall as his sister but where Narcissa had blond hair, he had black hair, similar to Bella. Harry noticed how much older he looked than the last time he had seen him. He could see the fine lines on his face and his dark hair was starting to grey. Harry smiled, he was certain that Draco and his antics was the reason for Marco's sudden aging.

"Why did you walk out like that?" Narcissa asked Draco.

"I think we should discuss this at home. Narcissa, Draco we should leave." Marco said in his usual curt way.

"I'm not going home with you until you change your mind about joining the Order." Draco answered, directing his answer to his mum.

Narcissa stood to her full height before answering.

"We will discuss this at home." She said in a bitter tone.

"It's not going to be my home anymore if you decide to stay as an Order member." Draco stubbornly replied.

"Draco, stop this childishness and come…" Marco started.

"I was talking to my mother!" Draco hissed at his uncle.

James and Lily suddenly felt very uncomfortable in their own home. They looked at Damien as he inched towards the kitchen door, intending to sneak out. He had witnessed enough family fights of his own to see anymore.

Narcissa was staring at Draco with wide eyes.

"I can't believe you would speak to my brother like that!" she said to him.

"Then your brother shouldn't interrupt me." Draco answered back.

"What has gotten into you?! Is this the way you have been brought up to speak to others? Are you trying to embarrass me?" Narcissa asked, clutching to her robes, her eyes filling with angry tears.

At the sight of his mum upset, Draco calmed a little. He looked over to see James and Lily looking quite embarrassed as well. James was saying something in a low voice to Marco and was leading the upset looking man towards the kitchen.

Harry watched from Draco's side as James and Lily walked into the kitchen, taking Marco with them. His attention came back to Narcissa.

"I'm sorry mother but he does this every time! Whenever I'm trying to talk to you he always interferes. I've had enough of him!" Draco snapped.

"That is enough! I won't have you speak about my older brother like that. He only interferes because he cares." Narcissa said this in a way that showed she had said these words before many times.

"Yeah, he cares so much he's brainwashed you into joining with Dumbledore!" Draco hissed angrily again.

"Draco, we have been through this! I joined for a purpose, there is a reason!" Narcissa said.

"What reason? What purpose? All your life you were on the other side and now all of a sudden you want to switch sides! Why?" Draco asked angrily.

Narcissa was quiet for long minutes. Her eyes were wide and fixed on her only son. Her lips were pressed tightly together.

"That is exactly why." She said in a near whisper. Her hands were shaking as she spoke. "All my life I was told the same thing; 'keep you head down and your eyes lowered. Then maybe, just maybe, you'll survive.' Well I don't want to just survive anymore. I've had enough of this type of life! It was like this when I was growing up. It was like this when I got married and had you. I was told always to keep my head lowered. Never raise your head or your voice. And where did that bring me? I'm living the life of a widow even when my husband is alive! I've lost my only sister and have nowhere to go but my brother's home. I want to do something about this! I want to act against what caused my life to disintegrate around me."

"Is that what this is about? You want to find an aim to your life? Merlin, you could do something else, anything else! Why Dumbledore? Why the Order?" Draco asked.

"Why not?" Narcissa asked.

"Because he's the enemy." Harry answered her question quietly.

Narcissa and Draco turned to look at Harry in surprise. They had almost forgotten he was there. Narcissa looked carefully at him before answering.

"No Harry, he's not the enemy. He never was the enemy. It took me a while to realise that as well." She said in a quiet voice.

"You've been mislead by him. You've fallen for his words and acts of wisdom. You talk about taking control of your life? All you've done is swapped one dictator for another. Dumbledore is no different to what Voldemort was." Harry said, taking out the aggression that was bubbling inside him since he had seen her at the meeting this morning.

Narcissa and Draco stared at Harry. Suddenly Narcissa turned to face Draco, a stern look took over her features.

"You want to know what my reasoning is to join the Order. Then go and get your uncle, apologise for insulting him, and get back home. I promise I will discuss this with you. If you still don't agree with me, I promise I will rethink my decision."

Draco looked at her for a moment, thinking over her promise. He let out a dejected sigh as he realised that he had no argument left in him. He headed towards the kitchen to face his uncle. As soon as Draco was out of the room, Narcissa faced Harry.

"I know you think you have everyone figured out but the truth is you couldn't be more confused." She said quietly to him.

"I'm not the one who is confused. You're the one who switched sides." Harry answered back.

Narcissa stared at Harry, her eyes fixed to Harry's face.

"I know that many people see you as a hero. Others fear you for your past and your abilities. I know that everyone sees you as a strong wizard, more powerful than Dumbledore and possibly darker than Voldemort." Narcissa said quietly. "But after seeing you today in the meeting, after hearing you speak to that Auror, do you know what I saw? I saw a confused boy who doesn't know what side he should be on. I see a lost boy not a powerful wizard. You are so confused you don't even know who to hate anymore. You stood up for Voldemort, the person who took everything from you and you treat your true parents like they wronged you in some way." Narcissa kept her eyes fixed to Harry while she spoke.

"For someone who doesn't know me, you sure do make some strange observations." Harry answered darkly.

A sad smile took over Narcissa's face.

"I know you more than you think, Harry. I saw you grow up just as much as Lucius did." She confessed, surprising Harry.

"I don't remember seeing you that often." Harry said before he could stop himself.

Narcissa did something very strange then, she reached over and gently touched Harry's face, her long fingers trailing down the side of his face. That was the first time she acted so motherly towards him.

"You don't remember because _he_ didn't want you to remember." She whispered.

Harry felt his stomach lurch like he had skipped a step while going downstairs. His memories. Voldemort had taken his memories. He had oblivated him and erased memories of Narcissa.

"Why?" Harry asked, his voice sounding choked to his own ears.

"It was when you were really young. I couldn't stand to see you hurt. You were the same age as my Draco and it tore me apart to see a child in pain. I used to care for you when you were hurt. But of course, that wasn't the right thing to do so eventually I was stopped from meeting you and your memories were altered so you didn't remember me." Narcissa told him sadly.

Harry could feel his heart beat painfully fast. He knew that Voldemort had played with his mind, took away certain memories and altered others to fit his plan. But never did he think it was done to such an extent. He felt a strange sort of explosion go off in his head. Could he trust any of his memories?

"I know what you think about Dumbledore but Harry you have to see that the truth is something else. He is not like Voldemort, not in any way." Narcissa stopped as the kitchen door opened and Draco walked out with Marco and the Potters.

She turned to face them but whispered a few last words to Harry.

"Let go of him, Harry. He'll only cause you more pain. Focus on your true family, the ones that never _used_ you."

xxx

Bright flashing lights, jets of light flying in every direction, shouts of curses ringing in the air around him. Harry watched with a thumping heart as the familiar dream played out before him once again. He waited as patiently as he could for Bella to make an appearance. He closed his eyes as the image before him rippled and swam around, making his dizzy. He opened his eyes to see everything around him horribly distorted. The fuzzy images cleared momentarily for Harry to see Bella. She was brandishing her wand and blocking oncoming spells before firing some of her own.

Harry had seen this dream so many times now he could tell what was going to happen next. It was always the same. Bella would duel with apparent ease before the image of the dream became distorted. Then her pained gasp would jerk him awake and he would spend the rest of the night wondering what had happened to her.

Harry desperately willed himself to stay in this dream, to see what it was that happened to Bella. He wanted to know why he kept seeing this particular dream. What was it that was pulling him to come here?

Just as he had predicted, the image of Bella began to alter until it was nothing more than swirling colours and fuzzy images. Harry prepared himself to hear her voice, to hear the pain in her voice. Just as it rang in his ears he heard his name being yelled.

"Harry! Harry!"

Harry woke up to see James gently shaking his shoulder in an effort to wake him. Harry blinked at him, confused as to why he was waking him up. He looked around him and saw that he had fallen asleep on the living room sofa. James was the only one in the room with him. Harry sat up and rubbed his eyes. How had he managed to fall asleep?

"Are you okay?" James asked.

Harry nodded his head.

"Yeah, fine." He said in a quiet voice.

He looked over to the clock on his wall to see that it was only ten in the evening.

"You've been training a lot, probably tired yourself out." James offered as he saw Harry blush a little at falling asleep so early.

Harry ran a hand through his hair but didn't respond. Ever since Narcissa's talk with him, Harry had spent every waking moment in his training grounds. It was the only thing he could do to distract himself from her words. Everything about his past life seemed to be nothing but a lie. He felt he couldn't trust any of his past memories?

James sat next to Harry and saw the look on his son's face. He had been quieter and somewhat subdued since Narcissa and Marco had come over to collect Draco Malfoy. That was a few days ago. James knew that Narcissa must have said something to Harry but he couldn't figure out what it was that had affected Harry so much. He decided not to focus too much on that just now.

"Where are mum and Damien?" Harry asked.

"They're in the kitchen." James answered. "I'm sorry for waking you. I would have let you sleep but you looked like you were having a nightmare." James trailed off, not sure if Harry was going to tell the truth or just refuse to talk about it, like usual.

To his surprise, Harry responded.

"It wasn't a nightmare, at least I don't think it was anyway." He said.

James tried to hide his surprise. He decided to press his luck and question Harry.

"What were you dreaming about?"

Harry looked up at his dad, wondering if he should talk to him about this bizarre recurring dream.

"It was…it was nothing. Just a silly dream." He finished lamely.

James could tell Harry was lying.

"You didn't look like you were enjoying it." James said in a quiet voice.

Something in Harry screamed at him to talk to his dad about this dream. Even if no solution came from talking, it might make him feel better. Taking a deep breath, Harry started.

"Dad, have you ever seen a memory that wasn't yours?" Harry asked, his voice tense and strained.

"Many times." James answered calmly.

"Really?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Yes. I've seen plenty of memories using a pensive." James answered.

"No, I meant, without a pensive. Like in a dream?" Harry asked again.

This time James understood and his hazel eyes widened with surprise.

"Oh, um, no, Harry. I've never experienced that." James said quietly. "It's happened to you." It wasn't a question but Harry still answered it with a nod.

"I've had this same dream many times but I can't make any sense of it. I know what I see has happened before but it's not my memory." Harry tried to explain.

"Whose memory is it?" James asked with unease.

Harry looked up at his dad and for a moment he debated whether he should tell him or not. Deciding that he had started the awkward conversation, he may as well finish it, Harry answered.

"I think it's Bella's."

James didn't say anything but he was relieved. Bella he could deal with, Voldemort was a different story.

"What do you see?" he asked.

"She in a duel. It looks like a raid of some sort. I can see Aurors everywhere. She's…she's duelling with them and then, I think she gets hurt but I can't see it clearly. Everything gets kind of fuzzy and the memory seems distorted, like I'm seeing it through a swirl of colours. I always wake up just after hearing her gasp as if in pain." Harry finished, grief thick in his voice.

James was speechless. He didn't know how to respond to that.

"You're sure that this isn't one of your memories? Maybe an earlier memory?" he asked. It was implausible to suggest that Harry was somehow accessing a dead person's memories. It wasn't possible.

"I don't think so." Harry answered, for the first time questioning the memory. He rubbed at his head, his fingers trailing his old scar. "It turns out I can't be too sure about my memories." He said in a bitter voice.

"What do you mean?" James asked.

Harry told his dad what Narcissa had told him. James felt like something had pierced his heart when he learnt the truth that Voldemort had taken away Harry's memories. James didn't know that Harry's memory had been abused by Voldemort. The only thing James knew about was the altered memories that Harry believed were memories of his childhood with the 'Potters'. James didn't know that Harry had been oblivated.

"I'm really sorry, Harry." James said, feeling stupid even when saying it, but what else was there to say to him?

Harry brushed the apology away.

"Why are you sorry? It wasn't your fault." Harry said.

James lowered his head and felt shame wash over him.

"It is my fault. I didn't look for you when I should have. If I had, maybe I could have brought you home, away from him and his abuse! It's all my fault." He said in a self incriminating voice.

Harry looked over at James, he didn't know his dad still felt guilty about that. There had been a time when these same thoughts had passed Harry's mind but he had quickly squashed them. He wasn't going to hold James responsible when it was Voldemort's fault. He had placed the blame for Voldemort's wrongdoings on James all his life. He wasn't going to do it anymore.

"Dad, look at me." Harry said as softly as he could. He felt very uncomfortable doing this. James looked up at him with guilt filled eyes.

"It wasn't your fault. I don't blame you. I know that sometimes it seems like I do but I swear I don't. What happened was Voldemort's fault. His fault and Peter's." Harry added.

At hearing his ex-best friend's name, James bristled. The guilt vanished from his eyes and instead, Harry saw them fill with rage. Harry had never told James about meeting Peter. James knew that it was him who told Harry the truth but they had never discussed the topic before.

"Don't talk about him!" James said in anger. "I don't want his name mentioned in my home."

"Dad…"

"No, Harry. I don't want to think about him. He's done enough damage to me to last a lifetime. I don't want to hear his name!" James said. Harry could detect the immense hurt in his voice disguised by all the anger.

"Dad." Harry said, moving a little closer to him. He could tell his dad was really upset. James had his head lowered and his hands clasped tightly before him.

"I treated him like a brother." James whispered his head still lowered. "I protected him, me and Sirius and Remus always looked out for him. I thought he would rather die than betray me and look at what he did? He took you away, knowing what your loss would do to me." James had not spoken to anyone about Peter in a long time. All his anger and confusion as to why his friend sold him out like that had been locked away inside him and now it all came crashing out.

Harry knew why Peter had done what he did. Peter had told him before he died. Deciding that his dad had a right to know why his friend hurt him, Harry spoke up.

"He was trying to protect you."

James looked at Harry, surprise and confusion on his face.

"What?"

"Peter, he was trying to protect you and mum." Harry explained. James was just staring at Harry, unable to speak. "When I met him, last year, he told me everything. He thought that I was you." Harry said, pushing down the memory of that awful day. The day that had changed his life forever.

"He thought I was you?" James managed to utter in a choked voice.

"He wasn't exactly in a state of sound mind. He had been imprisoned for six years. Forced to live like…well a rat." Harry didn't want to go into too much detail. He still remembered the awful cell he had found Peter in.

"Oh" James said in a small voice.

Harry knew that even though his dad hated Peter, he still didn't want to imagine him in such a state.

"Peter told me that Voldemort had forced him to steal me out of Godric's Hollow. He promised Peter that if I was brought to him, he would spare your and mum's life."

James didn't know how to respond to that. He sat in shocked silence. His eyes were fixed on the ground, hands shaking slightly.

"It doesn't make it right." James said finally in a hollow voice. "What he did, it still wasn't right, sacrificing your life to save mine or Lily's. He shouldn't have listened to Voldemort. He should have told us, he should have told me! I wouldn't have let him get hurt. I would have protected him!" James said angrily.

"For how long?" Harry asked he knew if Voldemort had his mind set on destroying someone, they didn't last that long.

"Harry! Don't stand up for him! Peter took you away from your home. He was willing to let you die! I don't care how many people he wanted to save in exchange for your life, he didn't have any right to take you away!" James was breathing hard, unshed tears glistening in his eyes.

"I'm not standing up for him. No one can hate Peter more than I do. I just wanted to tell you that he didn't betray you. He was trying to save your life. He knew what he did was wrong." Harry said as calmly as he could.

"Then he could have made amends! He could have brought you back home. He could have stolen you away from Voldemort like he stole you away from me!" James said angrily.

Harry didn't say anything right away. He looked away and tried to push that horrid memory away. Peter on the ground, convulsing in pain while Lucius held onto him, restrained him while Voldemort altered his memory.

"He did." Harry said in a small voice. "He tried to bring me back when I was ten. He was caught and imprisoned and my memory was oblivated."

"How do you know this?" James asked in shock.

"Peter showed me that memory. I saw myself being oblivated. I had thought that that was the only time my mind was wiped clean but from what Narcissa said, it seems it's been happening to me all my life." Harry said bitterly.

James stared at Harry, unable to imagine how Harry could possibly deal with all this by himself. He didn't know what to say to him that would be comforting so he settled for gently wrapping an arm around him. For the first time in James' memory, Harry didn't flinch away or look uncomfortable. Instead he moved into the unofficial hug and seemed to be somewhat comfortable.

Despite the depressing talk they just had, James couldn't help feel happier than he had felt in a while.

xxx

The next day, Harry walked into the living room to find his parents and brother sitting with Sirius, Remus and Tonks. Harry noticed right away that Tonks was sitting next to Remus and looked like her old self, happy and comfortable. He mentally sighed with relief. It seemed Remus was okay with her. He had noticed that Remus had been slightly cold to her during the Order meeting but they must have worked things out now.

Harry sat next to Damien and joined in the conversation that was taking place; the identity of the 'Dark Prince'.

"You really should have stayed for that meeting. You may have been able to recognise his voice from Ginny's memory." Sirius told him.

Harry bristled at the mention of Ginny but didn't say anything.

"I guess we could ask Dumbledore to show Harry the memory again. I'm sure he won't mind." Lily said thoughtfully.

"Can't one of you guys show me the memory? I mean you've seen it so you should be able to show me it as well." Harry said quickly. He didn't want to ask Dumbledore for anything.

"Yeah, I think that might work." Lily said, looking around at the others for confirmation.

James noticed that Harry was looking uneasy at the prospect of watching the memory of the attack on Ginny. He didn't blame him. It was rather disturbing. Harry was bound to feel guilty for endangering Ginny's life. That was probably the reason he hadn't asked to see the memory yet.

James had had a hard time watching the memory as well. It was awful to see how close Ginny came to losing her life. He thanked God, Ginny had survived and wasn't badly hurt. But that wasn't the only part that was disturbing. The resemblance of the attacker to Harry was frightening.

James studied Harry sitting before him, his hazel eyes washed over Harry's face, taking in every detail. A strange look came over his face as he scrutinised Harry.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Harry asked, feeling uncomfortable.

"Sorry, it's just, he looks just like you. That was the only thing that was reinforced by watching Ginny's memory. If I didn't know any better…" James couldn't finish. "He must be using polyjuice, that's the only thing I can think of." James said, running a hand through his hair.

"I don't think so." Harry quickly objected. "For a start what would he use of mine to make the potion?"

"Maybe we should talk to Dennis. See if that fanatical idiot ever chopped off your hair while you were sleeping." Damien supplied. "I mean, come on, it's not as if anyone would be able to tell." Damien said gesturing towards Harry's messy hair.

Harry threw him a glare but reflexively ran a hand through his hair. Damien grinned at Harry's attempt to flatten his hair. Sirius hid his grin behind his hand. He used to tease James about his hair all the time as well.

"I would have woken up if anything like that happened." Harry retorted.

"If its not polyjuice then what is it? How is he doing this?" Lily asked.

Harry thought about it. The answer couldn't be as complicated as it seemed. Nothing ever was.

"Whoever this guy is, he is good at disguising himself. He was the one who disguised himself as Auror Davis and went into Riddle Manor for my wand. There is something he's using to disguise himself. It may be polyjuice in the Aurors case but I'm certain he couldn't have taken anything from me. He must be disguising himself in another way." Harry said thoughtfully.

He looked over at Tonks and suddenly the answer hit him like a blow. His eyes travelled to James and locked with his.

"He's a Metamorphmagus!" Harry said not believing he hadn't thought of that earlier.

"What?" James asked his eyes wide with surprise.

"Think about it! It makes sense." Harry said quickly getting to his feet. "That explains everything. If he was using polyjuice then he wouldn't have to hide his face behind the mask. He could look like me and cause all the damage he wanted. But he's not using polyjuice. All he does is change his hair and the colour of his eyes. Maybe he's changing his height and body type as well. That is why he keeps his face hidden behind the mask. When he went to get my wand, he kept his face hidden. The other Aurors only saw him from behind. They didn't see his face. He must have morphed himself to resemble Davis but he can't change his features completely to match his." Harry looked over at Tonks to confirm if what he was saying was right.

"That's right. I can change any and all of my features but I can't _look_ like someone else. For example, I can mimic Lily's hair and eyes, and her height and things but I can't look like Lily without the help of a polyjuice." As if to prove her point, Tonks changed her hair to match Lily's red hair and her eyes changed to a pair of identical green eyes. But her face still resembled Tonks.

"If he's a Metamorphmagus, then we should be able to find him. Don't they have to be registered?" Damien asked, excited with the development.

"No, Metamorphmagus' aren't like Animagus'. They are born a Metamorphmagus; they don't train themselves to become one. Even then, Animagus' don't have to necessarily get registered. We were unregistered for at least eight years." Sirius added with a mischievous smile.

"But, there must be some sort of documentation, some record somewhere of who is born a Metamorphmagus!" Lily said, annoyed that they couldn't use this development to identify the culprit.

"In some cases, where the child shows signs that they are a Metamorphmagus, it can be listed on their birth certificate. With others, who don't show any signs until they are much older, it doesn't get documented. It is supposed to but if the parents don't bother filing it then no one is to know. That's the problem. Like Sirius said, there is no registration as such, so there is no way to track who is a Metamorphmagus and who isn't. Most of the Aurors who worked along Tonks for years didn't know she was a Metamorphmagus until recently." Remus said.

Silence met his words. Everyone looked dejectedly at each other.

"So what do we do with this information?" Tonks asked quietly.

"We start looking." Harry said. "We have a starting point. We have the initials, C.B. and we know he is a Metamorphmagus. We can start researching records of those who are documented to be born as Metamorphmagus' with those initials."

It was a long shot and the chances of finding him were little, but it was something.

"We'll get what we can from the Ministry files. I'm sure we can sneak out a few files at a time." Remus said, getting up from the table.

"Good job, Harry." Tonks said with a smile.

Harry didn't respond. He had a long way to go before he congratulated himself.

"Watch that memory as soon as you can. Hopefully we'll get more clues." Sirius said before leaving as well.

Harry nodded his head, his heart twisting painfully at the thought of watching her get attacked and nearly killed. He had to watch Ginny's memory. It may give him more answers.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Well, there you go. I've given you one more clue!

I know that a lot of you have been asking if the character who is the 'Dark Prince' wannabe is OC or a cannon character. I'm afraid I can't answer that. It's too complicated!!!

But I have mentioned the character before, if that helps at all ;)

Please review!! Cheers!!!


	38. Harry's 18th

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews!

A note on the revisions for Darkness Within: It is not anything major. It's really for the new readers. It's just a slightly different beginning. It doesn't affect the overall story in any way.

This chapter is dedicated to WETBOY who asked for Harry & Ginny in every review! This my friend is for you. I hope you like it! Enjoy everyone!!

**Chapter Thirty Eight**

Lily looked up as the door opened to reveal a tired looking Harry. He walked in, Damien trailing him. Both boys had spent the last four hours training outside. Damien looked like every move he made was causing him pain. He quickly reached for the closest chair and sat down gingerly on it. Harry sat down next to him and although he looked more tired than usual, he didn't look as bad as Damien.

Lily smiled at the sight. It was nice to see both boys behaving properly again with each other. Ever since they had made up, they had become inseparable. Lily had even heard the boys talking in Harry's room, late at night. She had to drag Damien from Harry's room just so that both boys could sleep.

Lily quietly observed her eldest son. He had a look of fatigue that had nothing to do with his training. He was still suffering from nightmares. She knew that as James had to still cast the sleeping spell on him in order for him to sleep. But Harry had insisted that James only cast the spell once, as opposed to twice in the night.

Lily put down her quill and watched as Harry and Damien talked amongst themselves. Harry was telling Damien off for being apparently 'lazy' and 'easily worn-out' and was obviously trying to encourage him to join him outside again. When Damien finally won the argument and refused to move from his seat, Harry left since he was not finished with his work out yet.

Lily turned her attention back to James as he was holding up two brochures.

"Lily, which one?"

"Huh? Oh, right. I like this one." Lily said taking the brochure in his left hand. "It's got a really big hall and it says here that they can arrange the party to be held outside as well. It looks perfect. Look at the beautiful scenery!" Lily gushed, staring at the brochure.

"Lily honey, its Harry's 18th, not his wedding." James said with a smirk.

Lily threw him a sly look and smiled.

"Oh, Merlin! You have the venue picked out for his wedding, don't you?" James asked with a horrified look.

"Of course not, I have a few _pre selected_ venues. I figure Harry should choose where he wants to get married." Lily answered with a smile.

"Lily Potter!" James playfully scolded.

"Oh, relax. It's not like I'm booking anything just now. I'm just planning ahead. Something women are very good at and since I am the only woman in the house, it's my responsibility to make sure everything is well planned." Lily said.

James looked quite disturbed by Lily's future plans.

"Let's just stick with plans that involve what's happening this weekend, no further!" James said wearily.

Lily huffed at him but started going over the guest list with James, while Damien sat and listened to them plan Harry's 18th which was happening on Saturday.

The fireplace behind him turned green to reveal Sirius.

"Hey Prongs, Lils! Hey pup!" Sirius greeted, ruffling Damien's hair as he walked in. Remus was not far behind him and greeted everyone as well.

"Where's Harry?" Sirius asked, scanning the kitchen for his eldest godson.

"He's still training outside." Damien offered.

Sirius nodded his head and reached into his robes to pull out the rolled copy of today's Daily Prophet. James still liked reading the paper was too stubborn to reinstate his subscription.

Damien picked up the paper and started reading as his dad was busy talking to his best friends.

"We have everything set. Well, nearly everything. We still can't decide on whether it should be an outside party or inside. The hall is big enough but I was thinking…" James started before Sirius jumped in.

"Outside, it should definitely be an outside party. We could do that Quidditch theme we were planning!" he said excitedly.

"Lily's not letting me do it this year." James said with a fake pout.

"Aw, Lils, come on! It'll be fun. All of us on brooms, flying around, throwing cake at each other! It will be awesome, come on!" Sirius said.

"How old are you?" Lily asked with a sigh.

James and Remus joined in the good natured argument. They didn't see Damien until he was standing next to them, the newspaper clutched in his hand.

"Before you start making huge party plans, I suggest you take a look at this." Damien said, throwing the Daily Prophet before them.

All four looked at the headline.

'_Extravagant celebrations expected to mark the first year Anniversary of the fall of Lord Voldemort!' _

Lily looked away from the newspaper and pushed it away. She knew this was going to happen. It was expected. The whole wizarding world was going to celebrate the fall of Voldemort.

Sirius looked at Damien. He had already read the paper before bringing it. It wasn't really unexpected news. It was only natural that celebrations were going to be held to mark the day Voldemort's region of terror ended.

The problem was how this was going to affect Harry.

"Somehow, I don't think Harry will appreciate a huge party on Saturday." Damien told them.

They all knew that as long as Harry lived he would never celebrate his birthday because that was the day Voldemort had died. His death was going to be forever linked to Harry's birthday.

Lily closed her eyes as the awful memory of last year flashed before her eyes. She had come very close to losing both her sons that day. She rubbed at her forehead, warding of the headache.

"I don't want him to think about what happened last year. That is why I thought a party would distract him and he could enjoy the day." Lily said tiredly. No one had forgotten the link between Harry's birthday and Voldemort's death.

"Mum, how can Harry not think about it? He spends every night reliving it. Even if Harry didn't want to think about it, he will with the whole word out partying and celebrating his death." Damien said bitterly.

He knew how much this was going to affect his brother but sadly there wasn't anything anyone could do.

"We can't just ignore his birthday. We have to do something." James said.

"Do what you think is best but I can guarantee, Harry won't be in any sort of partying mood. If you still want to go ahead with this, then fine but don't complain when Harry walks out." Damien finished.

With that said he walked outside to go and join Harry in his training grounds, not wanting to stay inside any longer.

xxx

"Are you ready?"

"Yes"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Okay, when you're ready." James said as he pulled out the memory of watching Ginny's attack.

Harry watched with a frantically beating heart as the silver thread of memory dangled from the end of James' wand. James carefully dropped the memory into Lily's Pensive. Harry watched as the silver substance swam in the bowl, not quite liquid and not quite gas.

"Whenever you're ready." James prompted him.

Harry looked sharply at him before returning his gaze to the pensive. Taking a deep breath, Harry dipped his head into the bowl before falling into it. He landed on his back and for a moment he just lay there, catching his breath as it was knocked out of him. Harry got to his feet and looked around him. He was standing on the astronomy rooftop.

Harry felt his heart jump at the sight of Ginny. Her eyes were red rimmed and her face was slightly red, indicating that she had been crying. Harry watched as she looked over at the door. Harry followed her gaze and saw the silhouette of the 'Dark Prince'.

Harry watched numbly as the figure approached Ginny. It was a bizarre sight, to see someone who looked just like you. Harry was momentarily stunned at how well the wizard had morphed himself to imitate Harry. His height, body shape, hair, eyes, everything was identical.

He watched as the masked man threw a spell at Ginny which was absorbed by Ginny's full body shield. Harry couldn't help but feel proud at the sight of Ginny conjuring the full body shield.

Harry watched with difficulty as the man attacked Ginny. He couldn't stand seeing what Ginny had went through at the hands of the impostor. His heart was thumping madly and painfully in his chest.

As Harry watched the painful memory, the image before him flickered suddenly and became fuzzy and out of focus. Harry couldn't understand what was happening. There wasn't anything he could do to clear the memory so he remained where he was and tried to take in as much information as he could.

A few moments later the memory cleared up and Harry could see Ginny being dragged towards the masked man by a cord wrapped around her foot. The sight made Harry's blood boil.

Ginny was crying out in pain and was trying to get free but none to avail. The masked figure reached down and pulled Ginny to her feet by grabbing a fistful of her hair. Harry had to look away.

He looked back up when he heard Ginny cry out, 'Why are you doing this?'

The masked figure pulled Ginny close so their faces were only inches apart.

"Because it would destroy him!"

Harry felt his stomach lurch as he heard the hissed words. He didn't wait for the memory to finish. He looked up at the darkened sky and soon felt himself being violently pulled from the memory. Harry landed on his feet, in his dad's office. James was waiting for him.

"How did it go? Did you get anything?" James asked as he gently pushed Harry to sit down on the chair. He wasn't looking very good.

"I don't know. He definitely sounded familiar. I'm sure I know him but I can't figure out who he is or where I now him from." Harry said, rubbing at his head in frustration.

"Dumbledore thinks that he may have been using a spell to disguise his voice, to mask any accent or anything distinguishable about his voice." James informed him.

Harry nodded his head. He thought that too. But there was something about the _way_ he spoke that was very familiar. Whatever spell he was using to mask his voice, it didn't mask the rage and, strange as it was, hurt in his voice. That was what had unsettled Harry.

"There was something wrong with the memory." Harry said, remembering how it had become distorted.

"Wrong? What was wrong?" James asked.

"It became distorted. It cleared up again but for a while it was difficult to make anything out." Harry answered.

James thought about it for a few minutes.

"Maybe it was like that because it's not a direct memory. What you saw was my memory of watching Ginny's memory. Maybe that's what caused the distortion." James offered.

"Maybe" Harry agreed.

"Well, it was worth a shot." James said dejectedly as sat down.

"When are Sirius and Remus coming with the files?" Harry asked.

"In a few days. They said that it was proving more difficult than they thought to slip out the files. The security at the Ministry has been tightened." James said.

"Why is that?" Harry asked.

"It seems that Fudge has learned how unpopular he is. After your arrest, there have been numerous protests held to show how much the public disagrees with him. As a result only authorised people are allowed inside the building. He's afraid that someone might do something to endanger his life. He has every Auror searched both entering and leaving the building. Personally, I don't think he'll be in office for much longer." James answered.

Harry couldn't care less at the moment. The last thing he needed on his mind was Fudge.

"If you speak to Sirius or Remus, tell them I need those files on Metamorphmagus' as soon as possible." Harry said getting up from his seat.

"I will do." James answered but he didn't think Harry heard him as he was already out the door.

xxx

On Saturday morning Harry walked into his kitchen to find Sirius and Remus already at the table along with a fresh faced James. Damien and his mum weren't in sight.

"You're here." Harry said to Sirius and Remus, caught off in surprise.

"Hey, there you are! Happy…" Sirius started.

"Did you get them?" Harry asked, rushing towards him, ignoring everyone else in the room.

Sirius looked confusedly at him.

"Your gifts? They're right here. You're a little impatient aren't you?" he said with a chuckle.

It was Harry's turn to look confusedly at him.

"I'm talking about the files. The files of Metamorphmagus' that you were supposed to bring from the Ministry. Did you get them?" Harry asked.

"Oh, that." Sirius said looking a little disappointed that Harry wasn't talking about his gifts. "We got them. It wasn't easy but we managed to sneak a few at a time. We still have lots to get but it's going to have to wait."

Harry looked impatiently at him.

"Where are they?" Harry asked annoyed.

"I didn't bring them with me. I figured you wouldn't want them today." Sirius said.

"What? Why? What's wrong with giving them to me today?" Harry asked, anger creeping into his voice.

Sirius looked at James and Remus before looking back at Harry.

"Because it's your birthday today." Sirius answered back.

"So?" Harry asked with a frown. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I think what Sirius is trying to say is that he didn't think you would be in the mood to study today." Remus answered, saving Sirius.

"I really need those files. The sooner I can start researching them the better." Harry said, now in a much calmer tone.

"But today is…"

"Perhaps you should go and get them." James said quietly.

Sirius looked at James with a bewildered expression but at the meaningful look James sent him, he sighed and turned towards the fireplace to go and fetch them.

"It's okay, Padfoot." Remus said, putting down his mug of tea.

He reached into his robes pocket and pulled out a shrunken stack of paperwork that had a band holding them together. He removed the band and put the files on the table and ran his wand over them. The pocket sized files enlarged to their normal size.

"Here you go, Harry." Remus said with a smile as he handed Harry the fifteen bulky files.

Harry took them and at once left the kitchen, heading back to his room to start researching them.

As soon as Harry left, Sirius turned to Remus.

"You brought them with you?!" he exclaimed.

"I knew Harry would want them so I brought them along." Remus replied with a smirk.

"You couldn't have told him that before he started grilling me?" Sirius asked with an embarrassed expression.

"I could have, but where's the fun in that?" the werewolf answered.

"Great, now Harry's going to be stuck in his room until he reads all those files. Some party we'll have without the birthday boy." Sirius said gloomily.

James didn't say anything but felt his heart twist. Harry hadn't even given anyone the chance to wish him a happy birthday.

xxx

Sirius was right. Harry didn't come out of his room. He was engrossed in reading the fifteen bulky files that were detailing the lives of fifteen Metamorphmagus' with the initials C.B.

Damien had come in and offered to help but Harry turned him down. The thing was that Harry knew only he could recognise the 'Dark Prince' impersonator. From what he had seen and heard so far, he was more than certain that he had met this person at some point in his life. Something about him seemed too familiar and it was eating away at him. He felt at times that the answer was right there, in front of him but it slipped away before he could focus on it. It felt like the answer was like trying to hold water in your hands, it slipped away from him no matter how hard he tried to hold onto it.

Harry was still busy reading through the files when his mum came inside.

"How is it going?" she asked.

"Fine" Harry answered without looking up from his file on a Christopher Brighton.

"How much longer do you think you'll be?" Lily asked.

"Why?" Harry asked, finally looking up from his file to look at his mum.

"I thought it would be nice to spend some time with you especially since today is your birthday." Lily answered.

Harry looked tiredly at her. He was sick of this happening all day. Near enough everyone had come in at some point to wish him a happy birthday, to which Harry gave no answer. They had then tried to get him to leave all the researching and go downstairs with them.

"Mum, I already told you, and dad and Damien and Sirius, that this is more important. I need to see if I can recognise any of these people. This is only a fraction of the possibilities. I need to get through these to see if I can recognise any of them. If not, then Sirius and Remus are going to have to keep on looking up more records."

Lily looked grimly at the bulky files.

"At least let us help." She tried but Harry shook his head.

"You don't know what to look for." He answered, focusing back on the file in front of him.

Lily suddenly pulled the file out from under his fingers.

"I know this is important. I understand the severity of this matter, I really do." Lily said holding up the file. "But you have to understand that today is an important day too. I didn't spend forty eight hours in labour with you just to have you ignore me and sit by yourself when you should be with family."

"Mum…" Harry started.

"Look, I'm not asking for much here, Harry. All I'm asking is for you to spend a few hours with us. You can go back to your studying tomorrow. Don't spend your 18th birthday sitting alone." Lily interrupted.

"I've spent the last 17 birthdays doing the same." Harry commented.

Lily went quiet. She looked at Harry with a heart breaking expression.

"You celebrated your first birthday." She corrected weakly.

Harry smiled a little.

"Yeah, I guess I did." He whispered.

Lily sat down so she was on the same eye level as Harry.

"I know how desperate you are to catch this guy. I feel the same, as does your dad. But just for today I want you to forget about all this horrible stuff. I want you to enjoy your birthday. If you can come downstairs and celebrate your birthday, even if it's only for a few hours, it would mean a lot to me." Lily said a note of pleading in his voice.

Harry suddenly remembered Narcissa's words. 'You treat your true parents like they wronged you in some way…Focus on your true family, the ones that never _used_ you.'

Harry swallowed the argument he was about to put up. Instead he nodded his head and forced a smile on his face.

"Okay, mum. I'll be downstairs in a few minutes." He managed.

The expression on Lily's face made Harry smile. He recognised that his mum wasn't asking for much. He knew that although he couldn't care less about his birthday, it meant a lot to his parents.

He got up and dragged himself away from his researching. As he neared the stairs he told himself that taking a break would probably do him some good anyway. He opened the door to the living room and walked in to find only Lily inside.

"Are you not going to get changed?" she asked.

Harry looked at his clothes. He was wearing his black hoodie with his blue jeans.

"What's wrong with these?" Harry asked.

Lily wrinkled her nose at him.

"Nothing is wrong but if you could wear something more…fancy." She said.

"Mum, we're not having a party. It's just us with Sirius and Remus." Harry said.

Lily suddenly averted her eyes from him, a guilty expression on her face.

"It is just Sirius and Remus, right?" Harry asked, not liking the look on his mum's face.

"Well, I may have casually invited a few…friends over." Lily said.

Harry blinked at her.

"I'm going back upstairs." Harry said turning around.

Lily grabbed him from the back of his hoodie to stop him.

"Harry, wait! It's not what you think. It really is only a few people." She tried.

"Yeah, like the house warming party we had last year? I know exactly how many a _few_ people are for you." Harry told her.

"No, no, honestly, Harry. I have only asked Frank and Alice over. Tonks will be here soon and other than them, it's just the Weasley family." She said.

Harry's expression changed. He gaped at his mum.

"You asked the Weasley family over? Why?" he asked, mortified at the thought of facing Ginny again.

"Why not? They are good friends of ours." Lily defended.

"Mum, I'm not up to this. I don't want all these people over. I'd rather focus on finding…"

"Harry, please. Just for today, for the rest of tonight, don't think about him. A few hours isn't going to do any harm." Lily said.

Harry looked torn between doing what he wanted and giving in to his mum's pleas. The decision was taken out of his hands when the fireplace turned green and Tonks appeared. She was dressed up and had worn her hair down today in long black curls.

"Wotcher Harry! Happy Birthday!" she said with a cheery smile. "How come you aren't dressed for the occasion?" she asked looking Harry up and down.

Harry only smiled back weakly at her. Sending his mum a glare, Harry turned to the door and headed back upstairs. He had to change his clothes.

xxx

Harry walked back to the living room after ten minutes. He was dressed in his fine black suit, with high collars and immaculate tailoring. It was one of Harry's best suits that Lily had got made.

Harry felt angry with her for tricking him into coming downstairs. He really didn't want a party and he was certain he didn't want to see any of the Weasley family, especially Ginny. This was the first time he was going to see her properly after the attack. He had only recently seen her attack and it made him feel guiltier when facing her.

Harry walked inside to find the room filled with people. They all burst into a chorus of 'Happy Birthday' which irritated Harry to no end. He grit his teeth and managed to stay put as the birthday song came to an end. He caught the sight of Lily looking at him apologetically. He ignored her and walked further inside to meet Frank and Alice.

"Happy Birthday, Harry." Alice said while taking Harry into a hug.

Harry pulled away and looked for Nigel. He couldn't see him anywhere.

"Nigel?" he asked.

"He's not feeling very well. He's home with Neville." Alice explained.

"Oh" Harry answered disappointedly. He would have liked to see Nigel again.

Harry had just met with Mr and Mrs Weasley when he came face to face with Ginny. For the first few moments, Harry found he couldn't look away from her. She had her long red hair tied back in a pony tail and was wearing a pale blue dress. She looked beautiful. Harry forced himself to look away.

"Happy Birthday, Harry." She said, while looking Harry in the eyes.

"Thanks." Harry managed stiffly.

Ginny looked away after a few awkward moments. Harry was almost glad when Ron came over to wish him happy birthday. All in all it was the most awkward minutes of Harry's life. He threw his mum another glare for getting him in this mess.

The party went on with everyone generally having a good time. Even Harry relaxed after speaking to Frank and Remus.

"I can't believe he's not here yet." Lily said to James, her eyes glued to the fireplace.

"Who?" Sirius asked, jumping into the conversation.

"Draco. I sent him the invite. I was sure he was going to come." Lily said, upset that Harry's best friends wasn't here.

"He'll be here. Don't worry. Malfoys like to make an entrance." Sirius commented with a laugh.

Harry found Tonks next to the kitchen door, just about to fetch more drinks. He pulled her aside to talk to her.

"Hey, enjoying your party so far?" Tonks asked.

"Yeah, listen I wanted to talk to you. Is everything alright between you and Remus now?" even though Harry had seen them together, he wanted to make sure.

Tonks smiled a wide grin.

"Yeah, he's forgiven me. He realised that what happened wasn't really my fault. He said what he was really mad about was the fact that I kept such a big secret from him. But after a few days he realised that I never did it intentionally or to hurt him. I did it for a reason, it was to help someone." Tonks looked at Harry intently before adding, "You can understand that, can't you Harry?"

Harry understood exactly what she was hinting at.

"Yeah, I do." He said quietly.

Tonks gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder before walking into the kitchen. Harry looked over to see Ginny talking to Damien next to the window. He knew that Tonks was hinting at Ginny.

What had happened between Remus and Tonks wasn't all that different from what happened between Ginny and him. Both Remus and he were angry about being kept in the dark and being lied to. But just like Tonks didn't want to lie to Remus, Ginny hadn't wanted to keep secrets from Harry. It was at that point that Harry realised that the way he had forced Tonks to help him must have been the way Hermione and Ron had forced Ginny and Damien to agree to keep him in the dark about the Sedare potion.

Harry watched as Tonks handed Remus a drink before both shared a kiss. Why didn't he see this before? He had wanted Remus to forgive Tonks for a crime he himself was still holding against Ginny.

Harry suddenly found the party too much to deal with. He quietly made his way over to the balcony and stepped out to get some fresh air. Harry stayed outside in the cool summer night. He watched in the distance as colourful fireworks made all sorts of patterns in the night sky.

The celebrations marking the anniversary of Voldemort's death were well under way. Harry watched as the fireworks lit the night's sky and he vaguely wondered how many people were celebrating today. It seemed rather odd, celebrating someone's death like that, no matter how hated they were.

Harry had forced himself not to think about today and what had happened exactly a year ago. He knew that tonight was going to be torture. He was sure to get no sleep.

The door behind him slid open and someone stepped on the balcony behind him. Harry didn't bother turning around.

"Your mum is looking for you." Harry heard Ginny say. He didn't reply back but stayed where he was.

Ginny turned to leave when Harry spoke.

"Ginny"

Ginny stopped in her tracks and looked back at the dark haired wizard. Harry turned to face her, keeping his eyes carefully averted from her face.

"I wanted to say sorry." Harry continued.

Ginny looked genuinely shocked to hear Harry apologise.

"What?" she asked.

"I never meant for you to get hurt. I never anticipated an attack on you. I'm sorry for what happened." Harry said with difficulty. He still wasn't used to saying sorry.

Ginny didn't say anything for long minutes. She stood where she was and stared hard at him. Finally she spoke.

"You should be sorry." She said in an even voice.

Harry's head snapped up to look at her. He was not expecting that.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"You should be sorry." Ginny repeated. "After everything you put me through, the least you can do is apologise!"

Harry was completely lost. Why was Ginny being like this with him?

"Well, I said I'm sorry. What else am I supposed to say?" Harry asked rather coldly.

"You can say sorry a thousand times! It doesn't change what happened. I could have died!" Ginny said, her eyes sparkling with rage.

Harry felt guilt surge inside him, squeezing at his heart.

"Ginny, I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say." Harry said with sincerity.

"You can say sorry all you want, I'm never going to forgive you!" Ginny stated before turning on her heel and marching away.

"Ginny! Ginny wait." Harry called. He couldn't have her walk away like that.

Ginny stopped and turned around to face him, the look of anger gone from her face. Instead there was a smile on her lips. Harry was confused with what was going on.

"It hurts doesn't it? When you apologise and the person doesn't accept it. I don't think there is anything quite as hurtful." She stated.

Harry realised what Ginny had done. She wasn't mad at him but just pretended to show him how she had felt when he had refused to accept her apologies.

"Did you just play me?" Harry asked.

Ginny shrugged her shoulders as she stared at him.

"You should know me better than that, Harry. Why would I blame you for something you had no control over? You never asked him to attack me. What happened wasn't your fault." Ginny said. Her eyes met with Harry's before she continued. "But, you didn't have to treat me like you did." She said with hurt in her voice.

"What do you mean? I didn't do anything to you." Harry said in his defence.

"You ignored my apologies and didn't give me a chance to explain what happened. You avoided me when you could have given me one chance to explain." Ginny said, true anger coming out this time.

"There was nothing left to explain. You lied to me, even though you knew how much I hate people lying to me." Harry said with his own anger showing.

"I never meant to hurt you! How can you not understand that?" Ginny asked.

"It doesn't matter anymore! It's over and done with." Harry said, trying not to dig up the hurt he had buried.

"No, Harry. It's not over. If it was over, you would be able to look at me when you speak to me." Ginny said.

Harry looked up at her in surprise. For a few minutes Harry just stared at her. Silence rang between the two; the only sounds were those of the party happening inside. Harry was the first to look away.

"Ginny, I can't do this right now. All I wanted to say was that I was sorry for endangering your life."

"Why are you sorry? What happens to me shouldn't matter to you?" Ginny asked with hurt.

"It does matter to me. Just because we broke up doesn't mean that I'll stop caring what happens to you." Harry said before he could stop himself.

"Really? Well, I seem to remember you saying that I was a stranger to you. Why should you care about a complete stranger." Ginny asked angrily.

"You know that's not true!" Harry retorted.

"So you're accusing me of lying again?" Ginny asked, feeling her temper really get out of hand now.

"No, I'm not accusing you of anything! But you should know that I still care about you. I shouldn't have to tell you that!" Harry yelled.

"Well I don't know what you feel for me anymore, Harry! You broke up with me, remember?!" Ginny shouted.

"Yeah, because I was mad at you, not because I stopped…" Harry caught himself just before the words slipped out.

Ginny was quiet and found she could only stare at Harry. She knew what he was about to say and it made her heart beat painfully fast. She moved closer to him, her eyes fixed unwaveringly to his face.

"Stopped what?" she asked, her voice breathless.

Harry didn't say anything but looked up into her eyes for the first time since they broke up.

"Harry? Stopped what?" Ginny asked as she moved even closer to him to close the small gap between them. She was standing so close to him now that he could smell the sweet flowery scent of her perfume. Her eyes were searching Harry's, almost pleading him to say what he was about to say.

"Stopped loving you." Harry finished, looking straight into her brown eyes.

Ginny was rendered speechless. Wordlessly, she tilted her head up just as Harry lowered his and their lips met. Harry was kissing her with a longing he didn't know he possessed. It felt so good to kiss her again. His hands travelled up from her waist and soon they were cradling her head.

Ginny kissed him back with all her might. She missed Harry so much. Their time apart was torture for her. She had her arms wrapped around him and she knew she would never let go of him again.

Both were oblivious to the presence of the fourteen year old who walked onto the balcony looking for his brother. Damien stopped short at the sight and quickly scrambled back inside. Even though the sight of Harry kissing Ginny was disturbing for him, Damien couldn't help the smile that came at the knowledge that Harry was back with Ginny.

He walked back inside and saw Lily come charging at him.

"Damy, I sent you to get Harry! It's time to cut the cake. Where is he?" she asked.

"Um, Harry is…well, he is…" Damien didn't know how to say what Harry was doing to his mum. "He's with…he's…Ginny is giving Harry his gift." He said, finally coming up with something.

Lily looked at Damien in confusion before understanding hit home.

"Oh! Oh, well. Um, okay then. A few more minutes won't hurt." She said and hurried into the kitchen.

Despite the blush, Lily was smiling as well. She knew how Harry felt towards Ginny and it was good to know that they had finally made up.

Out on the balcony, Harry and Ginny broke their kiss.

"I love you too." Ginny whispered, arms still wrapped around Harry.

"Never lie to me again, Ginny. Please, I can't deal with people lying to me." Harry said it in a way that sounded more like a plea than a request.

"Never again, Harry. I swear. I'll never lie to you again." Ginny promised, hugging him closer.

Harry smiled a genuine smile and hugged Ginny before kissing the top of her head. Ginny moved closer into Harry's chest, allowing the sound of Harry's beating heart to soothe her.

"I'm not sure if this is a good idea." Harry said, still hugging her.

"What is?" Ginny asked.

Harry pulled Ginny away so he could face her.

"Getting back together." He said. "You've already been targeted once because of me."

Ginny smiled and wrapped her arms around Harry.

"I don't have anything to worry about. I know you'll always be there to save me." She said with a small kiss.

"Ginny, I'm serious." Harry said.

"Look, Harry. I'm going to be targeted anyway. We had broken up when I was attacked. And in any case, it doesn't matter to me. I would rather be with you and be in danger than be safe but be without you."

Harry smiled and kissed Ginny again.

"Come on, we better go inside." Ginny said, wrapping her fingers around Harry's.

Harry walked inside with Ginny's hand wrapped in his own, all thoughts of the Dark Prince impostor and Voldemort temporarily gone from his mind. All he could think about was that he was back with Ginny.

xxx

Well, there you go, all you Harry - Ginny fans. I hope you liked it. For those of you that aren't Harry – Ginny fans, Sorry!

Let me know what you think, I have one more sappy chapter, that is very important, before all the action happens. It's getting near to a finish; I don't know how many more chapters though.

Please review. Cheers!!


	39. Closure

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! Here is the next chappie. Just a warning that this chapter is really emotional. Enjoy!

**Chapter Thirty Nine**

Lily picked up the empty cups and bottles from the table and threw them into the black bin bag. She always cleaned up after a party the muggle way. It gave her the time to reflect on the happenings of the party. She couldn't help but smile. Harry had ended up really enjoying the party. She knew at the beginning he was mad at her for blackmailing him into coming downstairs and away from the depressing research, but he cheered up by the end of it. In fact, there was a noticeable difference in his mood when he came back into the room from the balcony, clutching Ginny's hand.

Lily's smile deepened when she remembered how happy both of them had looked together. She knew that Harry still had feelings for Ginny and was relieved that they had finally worked through their problems. She noticed that Molly had looked happy at the sight of Harry and Ginny as well.

She let out a sigh. It had been a tiring day. She carried the black bin bag into the kitchen, intending to go out through the back door and throw the rubbish out. Damien had helped her tidy up a little but was excused to go to his bed as it was late and the fourteen year old was visibly exhausted.

As soon as she walked into the kitchen she saw James. He was putting the dishes away, using magic.

"Its okay, James. I'll do it." Lily said.

James smiled at her.

"It's all done." He said as he flicked the cupboard closed after the last dish levitated inside. He looked at his wife closely. "You look exhausted." He commented.

"I am." Lily replied, reaching back to gently squeeze her shoulders and her neck. "Even though it was a small party, there was so much to do."

"I'm glad we decided to do a smaller gathering than the big party. I think Harry enjoyed this better." James said, smiling at the memory of just a few hours ago.

Lily nodded her head in agreement.

"Yes and I don't think I would have been able to drag Harry to the venue. Just getting him to come downstairs was proving a difficult feat." She said.

"He's not mad at you." James assured his wife.

"I think if it wasn't for Ginny and them making up again, he would have been. Since something positive happened from the party, Harry's not keeping a grudge with me." Lily said with a smile.

"Where is he now? Has he gone to bed?" James asked.

The smile dropped off Lily's face.

"He's back to his studying." She said with a resonate sigh.

"I don't think Harry is going to rest until he finds him. It scares me when I see how determined he is to find this impostor. He's been in his room all day." James said, shaking his head.

Lily looked at James carefully, her emerald gaze locked with his.

"You know as well as I do that's not the reason he was locked in his room all day." She said, her voice quiet and serious. "It's been a year today. He stayed away from everyone, including Damien, just so no one talked to him about it." She said not taking her eyes away from James' face.

"He probably wanted to be alone. I can understand that." James said.

"That's the problem, James. Harry's been _alone_ ever since Voldemort and Bella died. No one, including you and me, has spoken to Harry about it. It's the reasoning behind all his suffering and nightmares!" she saw the familiar look of annoyance on James' face at the awkward subject matter.

In a softer tone, Lily continued.

"James, you spent three months looking up a solution to Harry's nightmares when the solution was always there in front of you. If you had talked to him, let him open…"

"You think it's that easy! Why don't you give it a try!" James snapped at her. How many times was he going to have to go over this with her? Harry was never going to talk to anyone about Voldemort.

"I'm his mother. It's different for me to talk to him. You're the one who has stepped into Harry life in _his_ place. You're his father now. You need to be the one to discuss this." Lily explained calmly.

The look of annoyance disappeared from James' face and instead a look of sadness overcame him.

"I'm not his father. I'm his dad." He said in a much more subdued voice. Lily looked at him in sympathy. "I know that he still thinks of him as his father. It's not like I haven't noticed. He _never_ refers to me as father. I'm just his dad. In his head, Voldemort will always be his father." James said in a defeated voice.

Lily didn't know what to say. She had noticed this about Harry as well. She put a hand on his arm, making him look up at him.

"He's not going to get over this on his own. He needs help, and he needs his _father_. You can't cast that sleeping spell on him every night for the rest of his life." She said.

James looked uncertainly at her.

Without saying any more, Lily turned towards the back door, carrying the rubbish bag with her.

xxx

James knocked once on Harry's door. When there was no answer, James cautiously turned the handle in his hand and opened the door. He thought maybe Harry had gone to bed and left the researching to tomorrow.

He was surprised to see the files still lying open on Harry's desk but no sign of the raven haired boy. James walked out of the room and headed to Damien's room, thinking that maybe Harry was in there, talking to his younger brother.

He found Damien half asleep in his bed.

"Dad?" he asked sleepily as the light from the hallway flooded into his room and disturbed him.

"Sorry, Damy. I didn't mean to wake you up. Go back to sleep." James said, already retreating from the room.

"If you're looking for Harry, he's on the roof." Damien muttered sleepily.

James paused.

"On the roof? What's he doing on the roof?" James asked.

Damien didn't answer.

"Damy? What's Harry doing on the roof? Damien?"

James called out but the only answer he got was the sound of Damien's gentle snores.

Shaking his head, James walked back out of his youngest son's room and closed the door gently. He wasn't sure if Damien was telling the truth or just sleep talking. He headed towards the roof anyway, just to see if Harry was up there or not.

He thought to himself in amusement that if Harry was on the roof then that meant that he couldn't find Harry when fully awake but Damien could find Harry in his sleep!

xxx

James stood at the door leading out onto the roof of Potter Manor. He stood in the doorway, just watching the sight of his son, sitting in complete silence, staring out at the night.

As quietly as he could, James walked over to him and sat down next to him. Harry picked up on James' arrival but didn't say anything to him for the first few moments.

"I needed some air." He offered as an explanation after a few minutes.

James smiled.

"You don't need to explain, Harry. It's your home, you can go anywhere you want." He replied.

Harry gave the smallest of nods and kept staring out in front of him.

"Your mum is worried you may still be mad at her." James said offhandedly.

Harry didn't look at him but a small smile graced his face.

"I'll just let her think that for a while longer." He said.

James chuckled making Harry laugh as well.

"It wasn't that bad a night, was it?" James asked.

"No, it wasn't." Harry replied, thinking about Ginny.

A few more minutes passed in silence before James plucked up the courage to talk about the thing he had avoided for so long now.

"A year today." He said in a quiet voice.

Harry turned to look at James, obviously caught in surprise.

"A year today." Harry repeated in a whisper.

"How are you?" James asked.

He knew that the question sounded bizarre and kind of stupid but there wasn't anything else he could ask that was appropriate.

Harry stared at James before answering by shrugging his shoulders.

"I'm fine."

James felt like laughing. He could have bet everything he had that that was going to be Harry's answer.

"If you want to talk, I'm here." James said it as bluntly as he could.

Harry looked over at James, his eyes lingering on James before he shook his head.

"There's nothing to talk about. I'm fine, really I am." He said.

"You're not fine Harry. How can anyone be fine if they went through what you did?" James said quietly.

"Dad, I really don't want to discus this." Harry said, feeling like he had said this phrase to his dad about a thousand times already.

"Then don't discuss it. Just talk, I'll listen. I won't say a word." James said.

"What good will that do?" Harry asked, annoyed.

"Try it and you'll see." James answered.

Harry held his dad's gaze for a minute before looking away. He didn't say anything for long minutes, making James certain that Harry wasn't going to talk about anything. But James didn't move. He stayed where he was sitting, not saying a single word.

Just as James believed that both of them were going to sit there in silence all night, Harry spoke. His voice was uncharacteristically small and vulnerable, surprising James.

"I was so stupid."

Harry spoke to the ground, his hands clasped around his knees. He was staring at his own feet, not attempting to look at James.

"I can't believe I couldn't see it. I couldn't see all lies he fed me. All those times he acted like he cared, like he was really my father." Harry's teeth clenched around the last word. His hands were balled into tight fists.

As promised, James didn't say anything but felt his heart jump as he detected beyond all the hate and anger, the feeling of hurt and being used.

"I don't know why I never questioned it." Harry went on. "All my memories, I never questioned _why_ my real parents would hate me. What reason they had to hurt me. I just believed what he told me. All that crap about being a dark wizard and having a dark magical aura." Harry shook his head, as if trying to shake off something.

"I was just stupid. I still am! After everything, everything he did to me when I was a kid, the way he took away my childhood, all the times he used me to finish his enemies, after everything he put me through, I still can't make myself hate him!" Harry turned to look at James, his eyes wide and filled with a pain James understood well himself.

"Even after Narcissa told me about my memories being taken from me I still can't hate him! I don't know why. I don't know what's wrong with me." He said in frustrated defeat.

Breaking his promise to stay quiet, James spoke.

"There's nothing wrong with you. This is something you can't control. The way you can't make yourself love someone is the same way that you can't make yourself hate someone. It's something that is out with your control." James explained.

Harry looked away from James.

"But I should hate him." Harry commented

"Harry, when you first came back to me, the way you acted with me was, well, hurtful to say the least." James ignored the way Harry's face clouded with guilt, he had to say this. "At times I would get so angry at you and confused with your behaviour. I couldn't understand why you hated me so much. That day…on the cliff…"

"Dad, please…" Harry tried to interrupt, his face flushed with guilt and hurt.

"Let me finish, Harry." James said gently, quietening Harry. "That day, when I almost died, I had no idea why you attacked me. But even though I was beyond angry with you, I still loved you. I didn't want you to get hurt. You tried to kill me, you threatened to kill my best friend and even taunted me about killing Lily but that never made me hate you. I still loved you then, as much as I love you now."

Harry forced his expression not to show his guilt but failed miserably.

"You have a weird way of kicking me when I'm down." He said in a strained joking manner. He was annoyed though that his dad was bringing up his past crimes like that.

James smiled at Harry's half joked comment.

"I'm not saying this to make you feel bad. I'm trying to show that I understand how you're feeling. No matter what you did to me, I could never hate you. And I understand that you feel the same way about Voldemort."

It was true, James had come to accept this of Harry. He had spent so long wanting Harry to hate Voldemort for his wrongdoings but he had to tiredly admit defeat. Harry couldn't; hate him, just like James could never hate Harry.

"It's not the same, dad. You can't hate me because you know that whatever I did, I did in mistake. What Voldemort did was intentional and part of a plan. That's what gets me. That he lied to me. Everything about my life was a lie. If he hated me so much he shouldn't have brought me up. He could have done things differently. Any one of his Death Eaters could have brought me up. The Malfoys, Bella…" his voice choked a little but Harry quickly pushed past it. "Any one of them could have brought me up to be a follower of his. He didn't have to lie, he didn't have to _pretend_."

The last word was where it all suddenly made sense to James. He finally understood that it wasn't just guilt that was destroying Harry from the inside. It was the knowledge that Voldemort never truly cared about him. That all the times Harry had thought his father protected him and cared for him was all a lie and pretence. James understood Harry's hurt now better than he did a year ago.

He continued to listen as Harry poured everything he had bottled up for a year now, out into the open.

"I used to boast that I could sense what Voldemort was thinking and most of the times, he would just gesture something and I would know what he wanted. I thought it was because we were close that we could communicate without words. But now, now I see that I didn't know him at all. I can't trust anything he ever said to me because I don't know how to separate his lies. I can't even trust my own memories; he took that away from me as well." Harry said, his voice reduced to a whisper.

"I would have thought that the knowledge that Voldemort actually loved you would make you feel worse about…about what happened." James said in concern.

Harry looked at James before answering.

"I don't feel guilty about killing him." he stated to a shocked James. "I mean I do, but it's something I can live with. It's bearable because I know what I did was in answer to what he tried to do to Damien. Voldemort had killed him, with all intents and purposes. I reacted to what he did. I know that he wasn't interested in Damien, he only attacked him to hurt me. I don't regret my action in that sense." Harry's voice dropped and James had to strain his ears to pick up what Harry said next. "It's all the stuff before that. The unresolved issues I had with him. It's the fact that I can't get any answers. My head tells me that he used me and lied to me and another side to me argues that everything he did couldn't have been a lie. I thought I knew him so well, it's hard to accept that I was so wrong about him, about everything. The fact that my memories are failing me makes it all the worse because now I feel like I don't know anything about my past. I hate that I don't know what to believe anymore." Harry finished.

At last James got the answer he was looking for. The reasoning behind Harry's hurting. This was what was bothering him. It wasn't as much as the guilt of killing Voldemort, like everyone had assumed. It was the broken pieces of his past that didn't make any sense to him anymore. In a twisted way, it was how James felt when Peter betrayed him. James had been left to wonder how he had managed to misjudge his friend like that. He had trusted Peter and had thought that he knew him better than anyone. Peter's betrayal had ripped him apart. Harry felt the same way. James knew how soul destroying that felt.

"I can't believe that I'm about to say this." James started, questioning his own reasoning. "But I don't think that Voldemort pretended." As soon as James said the words, Harry turned to look at him abruptly. "I saw a lot of memories in your pensive and as strange as it sounds, I can tell he wasn't pretending to care for you. I think it started off as pretence but slowly he started loving you like a father."

Harry shook his head.

"What you saw were my memories. If I can't trust them, you shouldn't either." Harry argued.

Silence rang between the two Potters. James was racking his mind to come up with something that would help Harry believe the truth. Never in his life did he think there would come a time he would be thinking of ways to convince Harry that Voldemort did in fact care for him and love him like a son.

Suddenly he thought of something.

"Get up, Harry and come with me." James said as he stood up.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked still sitting on the ground.

"Somewhere we should have gone long before now." James answered.

Reluctantly Harry stood up and took his dad's outstretched hand. Both of them disappeared with a quiet pop.

xxx

Harry looked around at his surroundings as soon as he recovered from side along appartition. His heart fluttered madly in his chest as recognition set in. Even though both of them were surrounded in darkness he knew instantly where they were. It was like he could pick it up from the air. He turned to his dad.

"Why are we here?" he asked, unable to keep his tone indifferent.

"I think it's important for you to come back here. You should have come here long before now." James was finding it difficult to say all this. He buried the bitter feelings deep inside him. This was about Harry and no matter how much it hurt, the truth had to be disclosed.

Harry turned to glance at the impressive castle behind him.

"What do you expect to find?" Harry asked, unsure of what good it would do to come here.

"I don't expect to find anything. You on the other hand may find the answers to your questions." James said quietly.

"This is stupid! What am I going to find here? I shouldn't have said anything to you. Let's go!" Harry said, refusing to even face the deserted Manor.

James stopped him from disapparating by placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Go Harry. I'll wait out here." He said, gesturing towards the Manor, ignoring his protests.

Harry looked at him, his uncertainty clear on his face.

"But…"

"Take as long as you need. I'll be here." James said, effectively cutting off his arguments.

Harry took a long look at James before turning around to face the castle draped in darkness. It was strange, the last time he had seen this place was a year ago. Harry started walking towards the castle, the deserted Manor that was once Harry's home. He was back at Riddle Manor.

xxx

Harry's footsteps echoed loudly in the empty castle as he made his way into Riddle Manor. He saw evidence that the Aurors had been here in the main hallway. He could see the magical tapes around many of the doors. He tried to ignore them as much as possible.

He couldn't figure out what he felt walking back into this place, his home, his sanctuary. Harry shook his head. It wasn't that anymore. It was _never_ that. This was always Voldemort's home, it had never been his.

Feeling like something had pierced his heart, Harry turned to leave. This was stupid. He didn't know what his dad was thinking, bringing him here. What was he supposed to find here? How could, coming back to the place you were effectively kept a prisoner, do you any good? But even as Harry neared the door he realised that his last memories of this place weren't the ones that jumped out at him. Surprisingly, it was the memories he couldn't trust that flooded his mind. Exploring the castle, using the secret passageways, convincing Draco to eavesdrop on Death Eater meetings when they were kids. Harry found a smile fight its way onto his face. He had to admit those times were fun.

Harry found his feet lead him down the hallway and towards the pair of heavy oak doors. He could tell that the Aurors hadn't managed to get into Voldemort's main chamber. A contented smile found its way onto his face again as Harry pictured the Aurors trying to get in and failing.

Harry stood in front of the doors. He could feel his heart thump so hard it ached. With a hesitant finger, Harry touched the rough surface of the door. Without saying a single word or incantation, the heavy doors opened of their own accord, permitting Harry entrance.

Harry stood at the doorway. Everything was as it was exactly a year ago. Evidence of the Aurors ambush was in plain sight. Voldemort's usually polished floors were stained with what was undoubtedly blood. His windows were smashed as was the glass roof. Harry's eyes swept over the room and landed on the raised platform. He felt a strange sensation wash over him as he spotted the overturned chair lying on the platform.

He stepped into the room, his feet echoing loudly. He walked over to the upturned chair and picked the heavy chair off the floor and straightened it. His hands lingered on the high back of the chair. It wasn't right to have Voldemort's chair lying on the floor like that. It didn't feel right.

Harry slowly walked around the room, taking in the destroyed chamber. He never thought the sight of Voldemort's room in pieces would affect him this badly. He slowly inched towards the door in the far corner. Again, his mere touch opened the door and Harry walked into Voldemort's private chamber. The door closed behind Harry.

Everything was just as Voldemort had left it. Harry could even see the creases on the bed covers where he had last been sitting. Harry walked over to it and sat down on the floor next to it. He didn't know why but the sight made his eyes burn. This room hadn't been opened since last year. The last person in this room had been Voldemort.

Harry sat in silence, just staring at the room. He looked over at the magnificent ornate wardrobe that stood in the corner. He walked over to it and opened it to see the robes hanging in pristine order. Harry reached over and let his fingers run over a few of them. He could almost feel Voldemort's essence within the robes. Harry shut the doors quickly, regaining composure of himself.

He quickly made to leave the room. He shouldn't have come here. It wasn't going to do him any good. It would only make his feel worse. Just as Harry moved towards the door he noticed something. Next to the wardrobe was Voldemort's desk. Parchments still lying littered on it. His favourite feather quill was resting in a pot of ink. But that wasn't what caught Harry's attention. It was the small box the size of Harry's palm that was sitting next to the pot of ink. Harry was sure he had never seen it before.

He hesitantly approached it and picked up the box. It was hexagon shaped and weighed almost nothing. Of course in the magical world, that didn't necessary mean that it was empty. Something made Harry open the box, he was certain he had never seen it before and Harry was well acquainted with most of Voldemort's possessions.

What Harry saw when he opened the small box almost took his breath away. Sitting inside the box was a small pebble. Harry felt his knees weaken as he saw it again. With trembling fingers, he picked it up, as if to be sure it was really there. The small pebble sat in his hand as he just stared at it, not sure what to make of it.

It was a six year old Harry who had given the pebble to Voldemort. Harry remembered that day well. Draco had fooled him into thinking that the pebble was an ancient stone that was engraved with a protection rune. Harry had rushed with it to Voldemort and offered it to him to keep him safe on his encounters with Aurors.

He still remembered the way Voldemort had told him off. He explained that the pebble was just that, a pebble, a small stone with no purpose. He took it from Harry and seemingly had thrown it aside. He took out his wand and showed it to Harry saying that the only thing that could offer him protection was his wand and his mind.

That was the last time Harry ever gave anything to Voldemort. Harry couldn't believe that Voldemort had kept the useless stone. It served no purpose. Harry put the pebble back into the box and put it back on the desk. He didn't know what to make of it. He refused to believe that Voldemort was kept the pebble for sentimental reasons. Voldemort was not a sentimental person. This didn't make any sense.

Harry left the room in a daze. He had not expected to find something like that in his room. He walked back out to the main hallway and stood lost in his thoughts. He looked in the direction of his old wing. He wasn't sure if he should go and look for it. He had been certain it had been destroyed after he left Voldemort. However, after finding the pebble, he wasn't so sure anymore.

He set off towards his wing. His mind was coming up with all sorts of viable reasons why Voldemort would keep that useless pebble. It definitely wasn't magical in the least. Voldemort had proved that to Harry when he had handed it over to him. So why would he keep it? Just because it was the only thing Harry had ever given to him? Harry shook his head, that couldn't be it.

Before he realised it he was standing in front of his bedroom door. Feeling his heart beat frantically against his chest, Harry opened his door. The usual sight greeted him. Harry couldn't find the strength to walk inside. He stood at the threshold, just looking at his bedroom. Nothing had been moved. Not one single thing. The robes that Harry had thrown over his chair, the last morning he had been here, were still there.

Harry walked inside, feeling his body numb with shock. He flicked open his wardrobe and saw all his clothes still inside. The books he liked reading were still sitting in his bookshelf. It looked like everything had been left in its place in wait for Harry's return.

Harry stood in the middle of his room, not knowing what to think. He had been so sure Voldemort hated him. He was willing to bet everything he had that Voldemort would have destroyed all Harry's possessions. Now that he saw the truth, he couldn't look away from it.

Harry didn't know how long he stood in his room, in silence, observing the overwhelming truth that he had desperately wanted to believe. He had all the proof he needed to see that despite everything Voldemort did to him and made his suffer through, a part of him had always loved Harry. Even after Harry destroyed all of his Horcruxes, Voldemort didn't destroy even one of Harry's earthly possessions.

xxx

James felt a shiver run through him despite the warm night. He kept his promise and stood waiting for Harry's return. He was feeling awful about coming here. The whole place was as creepy as hell. He buried his hands deeper into his robes pocket and waited for Harry to come.

It was roughly an hour later that Harry emerged. James stood up a little straighter and waited for Harry as he walked back towards him. In all honesty, James wasn't sure sending Harry into Riddle Manor was going to help him but he couldn't think of anything else. He had hoped that at the very least, seeing the place he grew up with Voldemort might trigger some happy memories and Harry might accept the fact that Voldemort had loved him.

James kept his own feelings on the matter to himself. To think that Voldemort did actually accept Harry into his life and cared for him like a father was hurtful to say the least. But James realised tonight that Harry needed to know the truth about Voldemort's feelings.

James understood the turmoil Harry had been going through. If you could choose to believe that someone you loved never loved you back or that they did love you, even if it was just for a day, what would you want to believe?

James was unable to figure out what had happened in the Manor. He couldn't tell if Harry had got his answers or not. As soon as Harry came to stop before him he took James' hand and apparated back to Potter Manor.

The Manor was quiet and still, Lily had gone to bed as well. Harry turned to the door, intending to leave. He had not spoken a word to James but the way he looked at him was enough for James to know that Harry wasn't mad at him, he was just lost in his own thoughts. Harry stopped at the door and for a moment he stood still, his hand still on the handle. Abruptly he turned and walked over to James. Without saying a word to him, Harry enveloped his dad into a hug. James was momentarily stunned. This was the first time Harry had ever initiated something like this towards him. James wrapped his arms around his son as well.

"Thank you." Harry whispered to James before letting go of him and leaving the room without looking back.

James smiled.

"Happy Birthday, son." He replied under his breath, as Harry left the room.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Okay, I know this chapter was really emotional but it was needed. I promise though that the emotional stuff is all done with. Remember what I told you all before the ending to Darkness Within? 'calm before the storm', just consider this as something of the same warning. (hehehe!)

Please review! Cheers!!


	40. An attack

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks for all the fab reviews! I take it you all like emotional chapters, huh? Well, I guess I could do some more then! Here is the next chappie. Enjoy!

**Chapter Forty**

Harry let out a tired sigh as he threw the finished file onto the growing pile on his desk. That was the last file and Harry was still no closer to finding the Metamorphmagus that liked dressing as the Dark Prince. Harry eyed the fifteen files that Remus had given him on his birthday. That was three days ago. He had gone through all of them and had found none that could possibly be the 'Dark Prince' impersonator.

Harry took out his wand and shrunk the files to pocket size. They would be easier to carry for Remus. He was supposed to be coming today and had promised to bring the new batch of files he and Sirius had sneaked out.

Harry rubbed at his tired eyes. He had been doing nothing but reading the files for the last few days. But no matter how tired he felt, he knew he could be feeling worse. Harry was extremely grateful that his nightly torture was over. Since his visit to Riddle Manor, he hadn't suffered anymore nightmares. Not a single one. Harry knew it had something to do with going back to his old home and coming to terms with what had happened. Knowing the truth had settled him and as a result, he was able to sleep once again, in peace.

Just as Harry got up from his desk, he heard the door open behind him. Damien poked his head into the room.

"Hey, you about finished?" he asked.

"Yeah" Harry answered.

Damien gave a dramatic sigh and walked inside.

"Thank Merlin! I thought you were never going to finish." He plopped down onto Harry's bed and gave him a stern look. "How long does it take to read through a file?" he asked with a faked reprimand.

Harry raised his eyebrows at him.

"There were fifteen of them and I was reading them thoroughly. But I don't see what this has to do with you!" he added.

"It does have to do with me since its summer and I want to spend it doing something productive and not just lazing around inside. Since you've decided to do your own _project_, I'm left on my own to be bored senseless." Damien whined.

Harry rolled his eyes at his brother's antics and moved towards the door.

"I told you to train on your own. It's not like you don't know what to do." Harry said. He was secretly very proud that Damien was taking such an interest in his training and was doing workouts without having to be told or prompted. The problem was that Damien wanted Harry to train with him and continue teaching him.

"Where is the fun to train by yourself?" Damien asked fixing his brother with a stern gaze.

"It's actually a lot of fun. You should try it someday." Harry replied derisively. He personally preferred to train on his own, like he did all his life.

Damien shrugged and stood up.

"I'm not a loner. I hate being by myself." He said.

Harry gave him a funny look.

"You've been an _only_ child for thirteen years." He stated.

Damien brushed Harry's comment aside.

"I hated it. I always badgered mum about giving me a sibling. I was actually quite excited at the idea of being a big brother. But now I can see it's definitely more fun being the youngest. I think everything worked out perfectly!" he grinned.

Harry didn't say anything but motioned his 'spoilt brat' of a brother to follow him as he left the room.

As soon as Harry and Damien walked into the kitchen they saw Lily deep in conversation with Molly Weasley. Both women looked up as Harry and Damien walked inside.

"Oh, Harry dear, Damy, how are you?" Molly greeted both boys warmly.

Harry returned her greeting before instinctively looking around the kitchen for signs of the only other red haired Weasley girl.

"Ginny's outside." His mum helpfully pointed out.

Harry didn't say anything, nothing to confirm that Ginny was who he was looking for or denying that he was looking for anyone. Lily and Molly both hid their wide grins as Harry threw Lily a look before heading for the garden.

Harry walked into the bright sunshine and squinted against the glaring sun, trying to spot his girlfriend. He spotted her sitting on the cool grass, talking animatedly with two people. One was a red head and the other, a bushy haired girl.

Harry stood on the spot, watching Ginny talk to Ron and Hermione. He wondered why the two Gryffindors had even come here.

"They're my friends, remember?" Damien said, answering his brother's unspoken question.

Harry looked at Damien before returning his gaze towards Ginny. Although he had made up with Damien and Ginny, he was still furious with the other two. Especially Hermione, as he had secretly respected her and never in his life did he think she would do anything to harm him.

He walked over to the oblivious three teens as they sat on the grass, seemingly engrossed in a debate. As soon as Ron and Hermione spotted Harry and Damien walking over to them, they shot to their feet. Hermione fumbled with a load of paper work in her hands and hastily pushed them into her bag. She met Harry's eyes for only a moment before looking away. It seemed she couldn't look him in the eyes. Ron was looking quite uncomfortable under Harry's eye as well. He shifted from one foot to the other as he waited for the two Potters to reach them.

"Hey Ron! Hi Hermione!" Damien greeted them with a big smile, ignoring the obvious awkwardness in the air.

"Hey Damien." Both replied without looking at him.

Harry only greeted Ginny by wrapping an arm around her and smiling warmly at her.

"I didn't know you guys were coming over." Damien said.

Ron shot a nervous look at Harry before answering.

"We weren't planning on it. Mum had to come and see Mrs Potter and we thought it would be cool to drop by as well."

Harry remained quiet and just narrowed his eyes as Ron, making him divert his eyes.

"How are you, Harry?" Hermione asked, both bravely and nervously.

"Fine" Harry answered.

Visibly relieved at receiving an answer, Hermione pushed on.

"You're looking a lot better." she said.

"Yeah well, since I don't have anyone poisoning my drinks anymore, I'm doing pretty well." Harry replied evenly.

Hermione's face darkened with discomfort and she hastily diverted her eyes. Ron was careful not to look at Harry either but a dark blush had spread on his face nevertheless.

Ginny looked awkwardly at Harry, she didn't expect him to be nice to Ron and Hermione again. Just because he was back with her didn't mean he was going to be fine with the other two as well. But it was still rather discomfiting to be caught in the middle.

"Right…well, we…we better get going." Hermione said, her voice showing how close she was to breaking down.

"No, wait you guys!" Damien said quickly, grabbing a hold of Hermione by her arm. "At least come inside for a few minutes."

Hermione and Ron looked at Harry almost as if asking for his permission. When Harry didn't react either way, they looked at each other.

"Come inside." Damien said a little more forcefully this time.

They silently agreed and walked past Harry and Ginny, keeping their heads lowered. Damien glared at Harry as he passed, asking him wordlessly to behave nice. Harry shrugged away Damien's look and started walking behind them, holding Ginny's hand.

When they entered the kitchen they saw it was empty. Harry could hear his mum and Mrs Weasley talking in the other room. They had moved to the living room, leaving the kitchen empty for them.

Harry and Ginny sat at the table as Damien ushered Ron and Hermione into their seats before walking over to the fridge to pull out drinks for them.

"So, what were you all talking about?" Harry asked, directing his question to both Hermione and Ron. They had looked quite engrossed in discussion when he had approached them.

"We…" Ron started, eager to answer Harry's questions in the hopes of being on better terms with him.

"Nothing! It was…nothing." Hermione cut across Ron, giving him a pointed look.

"Are you keeping things from me again?" Harry asked quietly, his emerald gaze fixed on the bushy haired girl.

Hermione looked like she had swallowed a bug. She spluttered and looked at Harry.

"No, no. it's not…I…" she couldn't find the right thing to say.

Harry didn't look away from her until she gave in and with a last look at Ron, she picked up her bag and reached into it. She pulled out a load of papers, all with Hermione's neat writing on it. Harry watched in curiosity as she tidied them and placed them carefully in the middle of the table, directly in front of Harry.

No one offered any kind of explanation so Harry reached forward and pulled the notes towards him. He saw that the papers were indeed notes and they were all written in Hermione's neat handwriting. He glanced up at her as he saw what subject the notes were on.

"The Dark Prince?" he asked holding up the first page with the said title.

With a nervous look at him, Hermione stated to explain.

"I know that my presumptions don't mean anything but I can't see this impostor being anyone else but a Death Eater. After I found out what the impostor's initials were, Ron and I went through the old Daily Prophets to try and see if we could find out about the escaped Death Eaters from Azkaban. There is a section in the wizarding library that stores a copy of every Daily Prophet published. We have been going through them, starting with last year and have been working our way through them." she paused here to see if Harry said anything. At his silence she continued. "I have made two separate files, one with all the escaped Death Eaters that have the initials C.B and one with a full list of escaped Death Eaters. I figured that it may come in useful at some point."

At first no one said anything. Harry was staring at Hermione, his expression was his usual mask of indifference. It made Hermione nervous, not knowing if Harry would be mad at her or not. Finally Harry spoke.

"It seems you and Ron had quite a project to do." He remarked, keeping his face free from all expressions.

"We had to do something, mate." Ron replied, looking abashed.

Harry looked at him but didn't say anything. He looked through Hermione's paperwork and saw that she was right. There was a page listing some twenty five or so Death Eaters with the initials C.B.

Harry scanned the names, disappointed that none of them jumped out at him. None of them except the last one. Harry read the name and felt something inside him stir. _Cole Bailey_. He had heard that name before.

"Cole Bailey? Where have I heard that name before?" Harry asked out loud.

Damien's head snapped up at Harry's words. Harry had recognised one of the names, could they finally have a lead?

Hermione spoke up after a minute.

"You saw it in the Daily Prophet. Remember, you took the paper from me and read the names before telling me that these men were 'lousy wizards' and they weren't worth worrying about." Hermione couldn't help the note of sarcasm that crept into her voice. The irony of the situation wasn't lost on any of them.

Harry's lips quirked but he forced himself not to smile. He should have known that saying something like that was going to come back and get him. He really should stop tempting fate.

Ginny and Damien shared an amused look and fought to hide their smirks as well.

"Meh, what does Harry know?" Damien said making Ginny laugh out loud.

Harry couldn't resist the urge to laugh after that. Hermione and Ron started laughing along with Ginny and Damien. Any awkwardness between the friends was put aside.

In the living room, Lily and Molly stopped their discussion to hear the laughter ring from the kitchen. Lily gave Molly a triumphant smile.

"Mission accomplished." Both women whispered to each other.

xxx

Harry was grateful for the study Hermione and Ron had been doing. It gave him a better chance of finding the culprit. He was currently sitting looking through her paperwork. She and Ron had certainly done their homework. The list containing the twenty five Death Eaters with the initials C.B was accompanied by a short history. It gave Harry some background information on the men. Hermione had apologetically informed him that she was only able to get a small amount of history as it was extremely difficult to find any information. She had scavenged the old newspapers to get what she could.

All the information was what came from their trials so it wasn't as informative as Harry would have liked.

"What's with everyone naming their children beginning with C? Was it a Death Eater special instruction?" Damien joked as he read the parchment, listing the numerous Death Eaters, above Harry's shoulder.

Harry ignored him. He was sitting in his room and was trying to get Damien to leave him alone. As usual, it didn't work.

"Go and help mum. She needs help with dinner." Harry distractedly told him.

"I always help her. How about you doing something to help with the chores for once!" Damien said with faked annoyance.

"Cooking isn't really my thing." Harry replied without looking away from the parchment.

Damien snorted but didn't say anything else. He sat down on Harry's bed and for a few minutes he didn't say anything.

"Wasn't Draco supposed to come over today?" Damien asked, remembering that detail from today's breakfast conversation.

"Yeah, but he can't because his mum has to go over to the Ministry for some reason or another. He's stuck at the Manor with Marco." Harry replied without looking up.

"When did he tell you this?" Damien asked surprised.

"About a half hour ago. He floo called me." Harry answered him.

"His uncle seems…weird." Damien said, pulling a face.

Harry smiled

"Weird doesn't cover it. He's a little…possessive when it comes to family." Harry said thinking of the perfect description.

"Did Draco tell you why he didn't come over on your birthday?" Damien asked, already guessing the answer.

"Yep, Marco and he got into a tiff and it ended with Draco storming out of there. He wasn't really in the mood for a party so he went to the pub to get pissed instead." Harry answered.

"Oh. You've not been giving him tips on 'How to handle family quarrels' have you?" Damien asked jokingly.

"Ha Ha" Harry said dryly, still not looking away from his paperwork.

Damien was silent for a few minutes before saying what he wanted since yesterday.

"It was nice of you to give Hermione and Ron another chance." Damien said.

Harry finally put down the file in defeat and looked around at Damien. He wasn't going to be able to study with him in the same room.

"I figured they had suffered enough." Harry said, a smirk on his lips as he remembered the way both had looked at him when he spoke to them in a fairly pleasant manner. They looked like they had inherited a great fortune. "And besides, they did come to the Ministry to protest. I can forgive them since they came up with a way of making Fudge's life miserable!" Harry sniggered. He knew that the trouble really started for the Minister after the protest held for Harry's release.

Damien looked at Harry and for a moment an expression of uneasiness washed over him.

"Um, Harry. Ron and Hermione weren't the ones to come up with the idea of the protest." He said slowly.

Harry looked surprised at that.

"Oh, I just assumed it was one of Hermione's bright ideas. So who was it then?" Harry asked.

Damien shifted on the bed and looked apprehensively at him.

"Believe it or not, it was Neville."

Harry stared at Damien, unable to say anything.

"Longbottom?" he asked after a moment or two.

"How many other Nevilles do you know?" Damien asked sharply.

Harry was shocked.

"Wow, Neville Longbottom came up with a plan to help me. The world has truly turned on its head." Harry said, shaking his head a little.

Damien smirked and added.

"I think he felt bad ever since Nigel's rescue, last year. He didn't say anything to you in Hogwarts because he probably felt like a jackass for blaming you in the first place. Valentines Day didn't help matters when you had to help his family again. He owed you this."

Harry didn't say anything but agreed with him. He knew that Neville didn't help him because he cared about him. It was more the case of repaying him for saving his family so many times.

Suddenly a loud shout was heard from downstairs. Harry and Damien both jumped to their feet and had their wands drawn instantly. They could hear loud shouts coming from downstairs. The only person downstairs was Lily as James had left to meet with Sirius and Remus.

Harry motioned Damien to get behind him. The fourteen year old did what he was told but silently resented the action. He could fight now as well, maybe not as well as Harry but he was still a lot better than last year.

Both boys darted from the room and made their way downstairs. Harry held out his hand to stop Damien when they reached the foot of the stairs. As quietly as he could, he positioned himself in front of the living room door. He shared a look with Damien as they heard more shouting.

Taking a deep breath, Harry flung the door open while he and Damien pointed their wands before them, ready to take out whoever was attacking their mum. The door slammed open but the two boys didn't fire any curses. They gaped at the sight before them. James was standing with Lily in his arms and both had wide smiles plastered on their faces. A very giddy looking Sirius was standing opposite them with Remus and Tonks looking just as happy. All had turned to stare at Harry as he and Damien had them all at wand point.

Harry sighed with both relief and annoyance and stowed his wand away, glaring at the adults who were acting like five year olds. Although Damien was relieved everything was okay, he had a look of disappointment as well. He had become quite excited at the prospect of duelling alongside Harry, but he could see that there was no need for it now.

"What the hell are you lot doing?!" Harry asked, glaring at his mum and dad as they were still hugging each other and looking at him with happy grins.

"Sorry, didn't realise we were screaming that loud." Tonks apologised, looking quite embarrassed.

"What's going on?" Damien asked as he walked further into the room.

James looked at Lily and the others before turning to his two sons.

"I have the best news." He started. "Fudge is out of the office!" he said with an inane smile on his face.

The adults, except Lily, cheered loudly and burst into giggles. Lily was smiling but didn't join in the madness.

"What?" Harry asked, unable to believe it.

"Moony and Padfoot just told me. The decision hasn't been made public yet. It will probably be announced tomorrow but everyone in the Ministry has found out. He quit! He couldn't take it anymore and resigned. Everyone knows it was a forced decision, what with all the protests and everything. All his past decisions were being investigated and he couldn't deal with it. It's done! He's out!" James said the last part loudly which resulted in Remus and Sirius letting out happy howls and barks respectively.

Tonks and Lily grinned at the antics of the men but didn't say anything.

"I can't believe it! Fudge is no longer the Minister for Magic! That is awesome!" Damien agreed, joining in the fun.

Harry hadn't said anything but couldn't help the smile that fought its way across his face.

"This is the best news I've heard in a while!" Sirius said.

"I can't believe that I'm about to say this but, I think we should go out and celebrate Fudge's resignation!" Lily said earning a loud applause from Sirius and Tonks.

Harry was taking in the scene with interest. He never thought his parents would act like this. At his dad's questioning look he smirked before explaining.

"Getting happy at the Minister's resignation? Celebrating the Ministry's downfall? I'm glad to have had such a _positive_ effect on you lot." Harry said, smirking the whole time.

James smirked as well before whispering;

"Where did you think you got your evilness from?"

Harry laughed and threw his dad an 'I'm-impressed!' look.

"Normally, I would never act like this." Lily said, jumping to defend herself. "However, seeing as this is about the man who deliberately hurt my son, I can make allowances."

Harry smiled at her words and ducked his head. He was surprised himself that her words didn't annoy him anymore. At the beginning Harry would always find Lily a little stifling but lately he found he was generally comfortable with her.

"Alright, let's go out and get some food!" Sirius said rubbing his hands together at the thought of food.

"Honestly! It's all you think about!" Tonks reprimanded as they walked towards the door.

Harry and Damien cast 'accio' to get their outdoor cloaks and headed towards the door.

Before the group could leave the room, the fireplace behind them turned green. Harry turned around, half expecting to see Draco. But it wasn't Draco. Instead it was a very sombre looking Dumbledore.

The group turned around to see the legendary wizard standing next to their fireplace. Lily was the first to greet him.

"Dumbledore! This is a nice surprise!" she said walking over to him.

"Dumbledore! You must have heard the great news!" Sirius said, walking over to him as well.

Harry noticed that the Headmaster of Hogwarts wasn't looking as happy as the rest. In fact, he looked downright miserable. Lily noticed this as well.

"Dumbledore? Is everything alright?"

Dumbledore surveyed the room, his blue eye had lost their usual twinkle. Clearing his throat he addressed the room.

"I'm sorry for coming unannounced but I had to see you to deliver very unfortunate news."

Everyone had their eyes fixed on the age old wizard. Even Harry was giving him undivided attention.

"What's the matter, Dumbledore?" James prompted.

"I had gone to meet with Severus…" Dumbledore started.

"Oh, is he back? It's about time!" Sirius interrupted him. Lily threw him a glare. It was such a rude thing to interrupt. Sirius didn't seem to notice this. "Where had he gone? The Human Bats convention." He sniggered.

Dumbledore seemed to grow even more solemn.

"Albus?" Lily said in concern, taking another step towards him.

"Severus is dead." Dumbledore stated.

The words rang in the room, making everyone inhale deeply in shock. Harry found himself shocked at the news as well. He wasn't expecting that at all. He looked over at his mum to see her hands covering her mouth, her eyes fixed on the Headmaster. His dad and Sirius looked like they had been slapped. Both were staring at Dumbledore in obvious shock. They didn't quite know how to react. Damien was standing next to him, looking quite stunned at the news of the most hated professor's death.

"What happened?" Remus asked, being the first one to recover.

"I went to see him as he had failed to meet with me as our prior agreement. I found him at his home." Dumbledore's words faltered here and he had to take a moment to compose himself. "It appears that he died some time last year, an estimation would be November or December. At this point, we can't be certain. He doesn't…didn't have any family so no one was alerted of his disappearance." It was evident that these words were costing the Headmaster a lot.

"Oh, Dumbledore. I'm so sorry." Lily gushed, tears appearing in her eyes.

Harry could tell there was more to come. Dumbledore's expression said it all.

"What happened to him?" James asked, his voice hollow and quiet even to his own ears.

Dumbledore's expression hardened, a look of fierce anger appeared in his usual gentle eyes.

"He was murdered." Again another sharp inhale of breath was heard around the room. Dumbledore continued, "I think it is safe to assume the murderer is the same impostor we've been looking for."

"How can you be so sure?" Tonks asked.

"The word 'Traitor' was carved into his chest." Dumbledore answered, again with difficulty.

Sirius swore under his breath and Damien looked like he could collapse, such a horrid thing to happen to someone.

Dumbledore was still talking, explaining why he thought the Dark Prince impostor and Snape's murderer were the same person. Everyone was listening closely, everyone except Harry. He suddenly had an awful thought. Snape murdered over eight months ago, the word 'Traitor' carved on his chest, traitor because he had betrayed Voldemort by bringing the Aurors to Riddle Manor. 'What if…'

Suddenly Harry turned around and bolted towards the door, his panic making him stumble.

"Harry! Wait! Where are you going?!" James yelled behind him.

Harry stopped next to the door. The panic blooming inside him was making it difficult to talk.

"Snape wasn't the only one who betrayed Voldemort that night." Harry said.

For a moment James didn't understand him. Then realisation washed over him, making him snap back to look at Sirius and Dumbledore.

"Malfoy" he whispered.

He saw the sudden panic in Sirius' eyes as well. Draco Malfoy was just as responsible for tricking Voldemort as Snape was. James looked over at Harry.

"Harry, wait!" he called but Harry had already disapparated.

Harry couldn't have waited to explain everything. He had to get to Black Manor. Narcissa's sudden and abrupt call from the Ministry was very suspicious. As far as Harry knew, this was the first time Draco was alone in the Manor with only Marco there to protect him. Their relationship was volatile at the best of times. If Draco walked out of that Manor like he had on the day of Harry's birthday, then who knew what was waiting for him outside.

xxx

_**Twenty minutes previous**_

Draco sighed as he threw aside the book he had been attempting to read. He couldn't focus on it. He was bored out of his mind. He muttered a few choice words to himself for his uncle Marco. Why did he make a big deal about him wanting to go over to Harry's house? What possible problem could he have for Draco to go over and see Harry? He had just floo called Harry ten minutes ago to tell him he couldn't hang with him today. He figured he shouldn't anger his uncle while his mum was out. She had made him promise to be more receptive to him. Ever since last week when he had stormed out of the Manor after arguing with him.

Draco got up and stretched, trying to shake the lethargic feeling out of himself. He wondered for the fifth time why his mum was called to the Ministry. He hoped it had something to do with the Malfoy Manor issue. He really wanted to go home, he had enough of staying at the Black Manor.

Draco walked out of his luxuriously sized room and walked over towards the kitchen. He was hungry, maybe he could get something to eat. He passed his uncle's room and stopped outside it. He figured he should ask him if he wanted any food as well. It might put him in a better mood. That way when he sneaked off to Potter Manor later, his uncle wouldn't be that mad at him.

Draco knocked on the wooden doors and waited for his uncle's curt 'come in!' but nothing happened. With a frown, Draco knocked again, a little louder this time.

When nothing happened, Draco started getting worried.

"Uncle Marco? Are you in there?" he called.

Still no response.

"Uncle Marco!" Draco yelled, pounding a heavy fist at the door.

He was confused as to why his uncle wasn't answering. He turned the handle and was surprised to find it unlocked. Draco walked into the room and saw that his uncle was sitting in his favourite chair, next to the fireplace. His back was turned to him.

"Uncle Marco? Didn't you hear me knocking? I wanted to ask if you would like something to eat."

No answer.

By this time, Draco was starting to get really annoyed.

"A bit childish don't you think? Not speaking to me. I thought you had more _manners _than that!" Draco said, wanting to get a rise out of him.

When there was still no response Draco lost it completely.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake! This is stupid!" he raced over towards his uncle, wanting to see him eye to eye. Draco strode towards him and stood before him before he fully took in the sight before him.

Sitting in the chair, eyes still open, was the dead body of his uncle. His throat had been slit from ear to ear. His expensive robes were covered in blood and the look of pain was still present in his eyes.

"Uncle Marco!" Draco cried out in horror at the sight.

He stumbled a few steps away from the dead body and willed himself not to throw up. His knees shook and he ended up falling to the ground. He couldn't look away from the grotesque sight.

His initial reaction was punctured when the lights in the Manor flickered before going out altogether. Draco panicked. His hand shot into his pocket and he pulled out his wand. Gripping it tightly in his hand, Draco stood up. He forced himself not to look at the corpse of his uncle.

"L-lumos!" he uttered and a small light flickered on at the end of his wand.

His hands were shaking badly. He had never had to deal with something like this. He neared the fireplace and stepped into it, his wand outstretched.

"Potter Manor!" he hissed throwing a handful of floo powder.

Nothing happened.

Draco threw in another handful and repeated himself, a little louder this time. Again nothing happened.

'Shit! The floo is locked!' Draco said to himself. He had just spoken to Harry a mere fifteen minutes ago. The floo was fine then. It must be blocked by the attacker.

Gathering all his nerves, Draco Malfoy stepped out of the fireplace and walked towards the door. If he could get outside he could apparate. The wards inside the house wouldn't let him apparate so he had to get outside.

Just as Draco stepped outside the door he felt a force knock into him, throwing his wand from his grip and forcing the air out from his lungs. Draco landed flat out on his back.

He quickly scrambled to his feet, cursing the darkness. He couldn't see anything as his wand had extinguished when it hit the floor. Through the darkness, he came for him. Draco was caught off guard as a force hit him straight in the chest. He landed on the ground again. His yell of surprise caught in his throat.

He stumbled to his feet and saw something before him, a shadow, the attacker. Draco knew he couldn't find his wand in this darkness. He could feel the sharp sting of the cutting hex on his chest. His robes were staring to stick to him and he knew he was bleeding. Casting that thought aside, he focused on getting out. He was at a loss as to how to defend himself. His time to figure it out was cut short as the attacker made another move. A whispered incantation and the lights flickered on, momentarily blinding the Slytherin.

Draco blinked a few times to adjust his eyesight and gasped at the sight. Before him stood the man clad in dark battle robes and a silver mask covering his face.

"You!" was all Draco could get out.

The Dark Prince impostor suddenly lunged at Draco but this time he was ready. Draco kicked out and managed to kick him in the stomach. With a grunt the man backed off and Draco took his chance to run. He aimed to run downstairs but had to change his direction when a spell just missed him. He dived to his left to save himself from the spell and went crashing into his mum's room. The door slammed open against his weight and Draco was sprawled on the ground.

He quickly got to his feet, looking around for something to use as a weapon. Before he could grab onto anything, a spell hit him square in the middle of his shoulder blades and pain erupted like fire down his back. The spell propelled Draco to fall onto his stomach.

He tried to get up but it felt like his blood had been turned to ice. He could hardly move. He could hardly speak. All he could feel was the pain in his back. All he managed to do was turn painfully onto his back. He looked up to see the masked figure towering above him.

Draco watched in numbed fear as the figure squatted down next to him, his silent form taking in Draco's injuries. The blond boy could feel the trickle of blood run down his temple. He had hit his head hard against the door when he jumped out of the pathway of that spell. He felt almost paralysed; his body was aching as a result of the spell he was hit with. He struggled to keep his eyes open and tried desperately to think of a way to escape.

A spell hit Draco and this time he cried out as he felt the bone in his wand holding arm snap. The impostor had used a bone breaking curse on him. His panicked mind exploded with fear when he saw the figure put away his wand and take out a knife. He held it in his hand allowing Draco to stare at it.

"Please, don't do this!" Draco managed to utter through the waves of pain.

The figure suddenly stopped and his emerald gaze was fixed on the injured boy. His gloved hand reached out and he gently ran a hand, almost lovingly, down Draco's face.

Draco was taken aback by this strange action. He looked into the eyes of the masked man and even though they reflected his best friend's eyes, he knew it wasn't Harry. He had known that as soon as he saw him in the hallway.

The man pulled his hand away and looked at Draco before slowly lifting the knife. Maybe it was the realisation of how close death was that made Draco react, but he felt the effects of the spell lessen to the extent that he could feel his legs again. His fear of death broke through whatever spell was pinning him down and he reacted instinctively.

Draco pushed all the strength he had into his legs. Taking the impostor by surprise, Draco swung his foot around and kicked him, straight in the head. The man fell to his front and Draco took the chance to struggle to his feet. His broken arm held tightly to his chest. He pushed all the energy he had into carrying his weight and he willed himself towards the door. He had to get out of here of he was going to survive.

xxx

Harry's feet hit the ground of Black Manor and he instantly started calling out to his friend.

"Draco! Draco!" Harry yelled in panic as he ran towards the main staircase.

He was just approaching them when he saw a door open on the first level. Harry felt immediate relief flood him as he saw his blond haired friend appear in the doorway. At first glance Harry didn't see the blood or look of pain on his face. All he saw was that Draco was on his feet and was okay.

Harry moved towards him but stopped suddenly when he saw Draco's condition. The look of pain on his face, his eyes clouded and pained, the way he was walking, the way he leaned heavily in the doorframe, his arm clutched tightly to his chest, the blood staining the front of his robes.

"Draco!" Harry started in surprise.

Draco looked up and spotted Harry. His pained expression broke into a look of relief. He staggered towards Harry, coming completely out of the room.

"H-Harry!" he stammered, his voice laced with pain. He stumbled and fell to his knees, his body arching to reveal his back.

Harry felt the ground slip from under his feet when he saw the knife sticking out of his back. He watched in horror as his best friend fell to ground, unable to keep himself going. Harry shot up the stairs, taking two, even three steps at a time. He was at Draco's side in a matter of seconds.

"Draco! Draco, can you hear me?" Harry asked as he saw his friend's eyes were shut.

Draco groaned to let him know he was still conscious.

Harry eyed the knife but made no move to take it out. He knew that could cause worse damage.

"H-Harry, help me! Don't, don't let me die!" Draco whispered in between gasps of pain.

"You're not going to die! I'm not going to let you die! You're going to be fine." Harry said forcefully. "You're going to be fine!" he said it over and over again but he could see that Draco was having problems breathing and his eyes had rolled to the back of his head.

Harry took off his outdoor cloak and wrapped it around Draco before taking the boy into his arms with difficulty.

Draco was unconscious by the time Harry struggled with him outside. Harry could apparate inside the Manor but the wards wouldn't let Draco past them. So that meant Harry had to carry him outside before apparating. As soon as Harry was out the main door he apparated to St Mungos with a dying Draco in his arms.

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Hides behind chair okay, I know that you all are probably mad at me for what happened to Draco but remember, I'm evil! Muhahahaha!

Please review, it will make me update faster! Cheers!!


	41. The Threat

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! Here is the next chappie. Enjoy!

**Chapter Forty One**

James watched in silence as his eldest son paced the corridor, his hands balled into fists, head bowed either in distressed thoughts or silent prayers. Harry's clothes were still stained with Draco's blood but Harry didn't seem to notice. He was too busy waiting for the Healer to come out of the room and deliver Draco's fate.

James looked up at Sirius who was sitting across from him. He was watching Harry as well. Next to him were Remus and Lily. They were sitting with their heads lowered, not a word was spoken amongst them. Dumbledore and Tonks were sitting next to James. The only person not sitting down was Harry. James had tried to get him to sit but Harry was too worked up to be able to sit down.

James hadn't seen what condition Draco Malfoy was in when Harry brought him here. He along with the others had apparated to Black Manor shortly after Harry. But unlike Harry, they had to get out of Potter Manor before the wards would let them apparate. When they got to Black Manor they saw from the distance, Harry disapparating with a bloodied body in his arms.

James and Sirius had run inside Black Manor to discover the dead body of Marco Black. They had brought him to St Mungos even though it was clear that he was dead.

James couldn't believe what had happened. In the space of half an hour he had been informed of two deaths and a horrendous attack.

James found himself praying that Draco recovered. It wasn't so much that he cared for the boy, he hardly knew him. But the boy was the same age as Harry. He had risked his life to help rescue Harry from Voldemort and he knew that Harry cared deeply about him. He was Harry's best friend.

The doors at the end of the corridor banged open catching everyone's attention. They swung around to see Narcissa Malfoy rushing towards them. The look on her face broke James' heart. He looked around to see Lily looking compassionately at her as well. They knew perfectly well how she must be feeling right now. They had come close to losing Harry so many times, they understood the emotion Narcissa was feeling very well.

Narcissa stopped in front of Harry, who had stopped his pacing and was now standing before her. Narcissa's red rimmed eyes were searching Harry. She opened her mouth to speak but found she couldn't. A soft cry left her instead. She wanted to ask Harry what had happened, she wanted to know how such a thing could have happened to her family, to her brother and her son, but she didn't have the strength in her.

Sirius got up and was at his cousin's side in a matter of seconds. Narcissa took one look at Sirius before turning to him and collapsing in his arms in sobs.

"Sirius!" she cried. "Marco! He's…he's…and Draco!" she was sobbing hard and couldn't get her words out.

"Shh, it'll be alright. Everything will work out." Sirius comforted his cousin while embracing her.

Sirius was always much closer to Bella as Narcissa was older than him. He gave up all contact with her when she decided to marry Lucius Malfoy. Today however, he couldn't stand back and see a member of his family suffer like this. He knew that she was now left all alone and he was the only family member present. Well, him and Tonks but she didn't really know Narcissa well enough to comfort her. Not since the Black family disowned Andromena after she married muggle-born Ted Tonks. No one from the Black family even attended Andromena's funeral, a few years ago, no one except Sirius of course.

Tonks stood next to Dumbledore and watched as her aunt Narcissa broke down in tears. Lily and James walked over to the sobbing woman. They didn't know her that well, but they could understand what she was going through and wanted to comfort her.

Harry didn't know what to say or how to react and just stood next to the distraught mother. He didn't think he could say anything to her that would make her feel better. He let the people around him comfort Narcissa.

Lily and Sirius managed to usher her towards the seats and they sat down. Narcissa was trying her best to compose herself. She wasn't the sort of woman who showed her emotions that easily. However, today was an exception. She had lost the last of her siblings and her only child was near death as well.

A few minutes passed with only the sound of Sirius' gentle words echoing in the corridor. At last the door opened and an exhausted Healer walked out. Narcissa shot out of her chair and raced towards him. Everyone rose out of their seats as well and eyed the Healer, each praying that he had good news.

"Healer Roberts!" Narcissa called out as she rushed towards the grey haired Healer. "My son! Is my son okay?" she asked with desperation in her voice.

The Healer looked at her with a solemn expression, making everyone hold their breaths.

"Mrs Malfoy?" he enquired. At her nod he continued. "We have done everything we could for your son. He has a punctured lung due to the stab wound and has lost quite a lot of blood. His other injuries weren't as life threatening but still weakened him. We have repaired his lung as best we could but…" he faltered here and took a good look at the distressed woman. He took her hand into his before going on. "I'm sorry; your son has slipped into a coma. His chances for a full recovery are not good. I'm sorry to tell you this but there is a good chance he may never recover from the coma. I'm sorry." He said as Narcissa started shaking her head at his last words and tears cascaded down her face.

"No, no, Healer Roberts! No, this can't…you have to do something. Please, save my son." she cried. "Draco! He's…he's all I have left, please!" she begged.

"I'm really sorry. We will do our best but I have to be honest with you. There is no point in giving you false hopes." The Healer said with remorse.

Narcissa dissolved into tears and was beside herself with grief. She was going to lose the only family she had left. Her child, her only son was dying and there was nothing anyone could do.

Sirius was once again, at her side and this time even Tonks put family rivalry aside and approached her aunt. Both members of the family held onto Narcissa and let the poor woman cry. Remus and Dumbledore were talking to the Healer, obviously discussing other possible treatments.

James and Lily looked away from the distraught mother to see Harry still standing where he was. James saw the fear in Harry's eyes as he stood transfixed. His eyes were locked on the Healer but he wasn't really looking at him. He was reliving what the Healer had just told them. James could clearly see the desperation in Harry to prove the Healer wrong. To be able to do something, anything that could save his friend's life. Unfortunately, there are some things that cannot be controlled by magic and it was at this realisation that Harry lost his inner battle. He suddenly turned around and fled.

James took one step behind Harry but was stopped by Lily.

"Let him go. This is how he deals." Lily said in a sad voice.

James listened to his wife and let Harry leave the hospital. He could only imagine how he was feeling.

xxx

Things stayed the same over the next week. Draco was still in a coma and there were no changes in his condition. His repaired lung was showing no signs of healing. As a result of this he was being kept alive my magical means.

Narcissa was taken in by Sirius as she was still homeless and couldn't face staying in the Black Manor as that was where her brother had been brutally murdered and her son attacked. She was already a member of the Order so it posed no problem for her to stay at 12 Grimmauld Place.

Harry was now desperate to find the Dark Prince impostor. He couldn't rest, couldn't eat or sleep. The image of Draco falling with the horrid knife sticking out of his back was swimming before his eyes, driving him insane.

He was so desperate she didn't argue against Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Damien joining in his research. The other three met at Potter Manor early in the mornings and stayed till past dinnertime and looked up as much information as they could on the escaped Death Eaters.

Hermione had managed to take copies of the old Daily Prophets to study in more depth. Harry had Sirius and Remus look out information on the escaped Death Eaters. The search for the Metamorphmagus' was forgotten. Instead they focused on the files prepared by Hermione and looked for all information the Ministry had on the escaped Death Eaters whose initials were C.B. Even James, Lily, Sirius, Remus and Tonks helped out in the research when they could.

It was one such afternoon and the whole gang was crowded around the table, files and parchments lying all over the large table. Everything from newspaper clippings to official Ministry files, to handwritten notes were laying scattered around the table.

"I don't get it." sighed Ron, scratching the side of his head. "I've been looking for more information on this Death Eater but I can't seem to find anything."

Harry looked up from his notes on a Carl Bjorn and saw the scribble on Ron's notebook. _Cole Bailey_. Harry had noticed this as well. Every other Death Eater on Hermione's list had a full history that was being carefully pieced together by Harry and the others. It was the only way they could work out who the likely culprit was. But this mysterious Cole Bailey didn't have much on him.

"Run through what you've got on him so far." James said as he put down his notes on a Death Eater named Caleb Bradford.

Ron started reading out what he had managed to find.

"Well, he was arrested during a raid about ten years ago. He was imprisoned for life in Azkaban and was one of the last Death Eaters to escape." Ron looked up at the faces watching him.

"And?" Tonks prompted.

"And that's it." Ron answered.

"What?" Hermione shrieked, making a grab at Ron's notebook. She scanned over his messy writing and looked back at him. "That's it! That's all you've found out!" she said in an accusatory voice.

"Hermione! It's not like I decided that is all the information we were to have on him! This is all that is available." He gestured to the newspapers lying before him.

Harry turned to Remus.

"Does Bailey not have a Ministry file?" he asked.

Remus shook his head.

"I can't recall it. If he does it will be here somewhere." He said, sifting through the files.

"It's not here. I've already checked." Ron supplied.

"Surely there must be something on him!" Hermione said, reaching over to the pile of paperwork before her and looking through it. "How can it be possible that a Death Eater that has been arrested doesn't have a portfolio?"

"She's right." Sirius said. "The Ministry would make up some record of the Death Eater's crimes to present at the trial."

"Why don't you and Remus have another look for this Cole Bailey? Maybe you missed him." Lily suggested.

Remus looked like he was insulted at the assumption that he had overlooked something as important as this. However, he answered in his usual polite way.

"Sure, I'll have another look."

"Meanwhile, we keep on working with the others. Ron, put that one aside. No one stops until we have all the histories of these Death Eaters." Harry ordered.

No one objected and went back to their researching.

But everyone had stopped their researching for one day. The day of the funeral for Marco Black. Harry had at first decided not to go to the funeral but then changed his mind. Not so much for Marco, he knew Marco didn't really like him. No, Harry wanted to go for Narcissa. He knew it would mean a lot to her and he felt a strange desire to be there for her. She was Draco's mum and Harry knew how much Draco secretly loved her. Harry knew that a part of his decision was based on the knowledge that Narcissa had been there for him when he was growing up. He couldn't remember it as those memories were taken from him but that didn't mean it never happened.

It turned out that a lot of people turned up at Marco's funeral. The whole Order was there, Dumbledore included, as were a few other important people in the wizarding community. It was a saddening experience as Narcissa was inconsolable. Sirius and Tonks were at her side and never left her even for a moment. Narcissa had to be taken back to the Headquarters as she was clearly not able to cope with the funeral. Sirius and Remus left with her while Tonks and her father were left to represent the Black family. Ironic as it was, it was something that had to be done.

xxx

Harry was glad to get back home. He walked through the front door and headed straight for the living room. He was tired, too tired to do any researching today. The funeral had taken a lot out of him, more than he had expected. He found himself wondering that if the funeral of a person that he didn't particularly care about could take so much out of him then what would it feel like if he had to attend the funeral of someone he really cared about? His thoughts raced back to Bella and what he felt at the time she was buried. Bella's funeral was the first funeral he had ever attended. He couldn't really remember that day. It felt like a heavy fog clouded around that memory. He was in shock for the most part of that day. His memories of that day were scattered and he couldn't bring himself to think about it.

His parents walked into the living room in silence. Lily headed straight to the kitchen to make all of them a much needed cup of tea. James was just about to sit opposite Harry when the phone rang, making him jump. Harry looked over at the muggle phone with disdained interest. He wondered what his muggle aunt wanted from his mum.

"Lily!" James yelled.

"Answer it, please James!" came the reply from the kitchen.

With a suppressed moan, James moved over to answer the phone. Honestly, there was no reason why he should have to answer the phone. It was obviously Petunia calling to speak to Lily for whatever reason.

With a scowl on his face, James picked up the receiver and answered in his usual manner.

"Hello, Potter residence."

Harry watched as James' expression changed to surprise. It was clear that he was thrown by the caller. His eyes travelled to Harry and rested on him.

"Can I ask whose calling?" his tone was polite but demanding and Harry found himself sit upright.

James' question was obviously not answered as a frown appeared on his face before he bit out harshly.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to tell me who you are first!"

Lily had walked back into the living room and stood watching James as well. Harry was noting the look of growing fury on James' face.

"Who is this!?" he asked again.

Harry stood up and walked over to his dad. He knew who it was. It was clear from James' look of panic and anger. The way he had looked at Harry was enough to suggest that the caller was asking to speak to him. Harry knew who it was and he knew that James knew it too. He was only asking in a bid to see if he was right or what response the caller would give.

Harry reached out to take the receiver from James. At first James hesitated but seeing the look on Harry's face, he handed it to him. Harry brought it to his ear, his eyes already burning in rage.

"Talk!" he hissed at him.

A low chuckle was heard on the other end, fuelling Harry's anger.

"Still have that habit of giving out orders. I guess some things never do change."

Harry stilled as the voice of the impostor rang in his head. The familiarity of it hit Harry hard but yet again, he was lost as to why it was familiar.

"I've not changed at all. If you know me you would have had the sense to not mess with me!" Harry hissed dangerously at him.

Another chuckle and Harry wished he could reach into the phone and pull the impostor out so he could do real damage to him.

"You always were over confident. A quality that I actually liked in you." The last part was said in a voice, Harry could swear, sounded remorseful.

"You do realise that by attacking Draco you have effectively signed your own death certificate!" Harry said through clenched teeth.

This time there was no chuckle. For a moment Harry thought he had hung up. But then his voice came, laced with either anger or regret, or perhaps both.

"It's not something I wanted to do. Don't hold me responsible. You are the only one to blame!"

Harry was surprised at that. He wasn't expecting that as a response.

"Me? You're blaming me for your actions? In what twisted way am I responsible!?" Harry asked.

"It's funny, almost agonizingly humorous, that you can do so much and still claim you're innocent." The voice was enriched with so much hate and pain that it almost took Harry's breath away.

"What have I done?" Harry asked in a voice that betrayed his honest confusion.

"You have forgotten? I guess that shouldn't be surprising. You seem to _forget _a lot of things. Forgotten the kindness shown to you, forgotten the care you were given, the honour bestowed upon you, the love that was reserved for you and you alone!" the last part was almost shouted out and Harry could hear the quick breaths taken, in an effort to calm down.

"Whatever I had with Voldemort is not your concern." Harry hissed out, his own anger threatening to break out. "Who are you to exact revenge on his behalf?" Harry asked.

"You don't remember me? Well, no matter. I remember you. I want you to know that I spend every moment thinking about you and how to make you pay for what you did!" The malice in his voice faded and what Harry heard next made the hairs on the end of his neck stand. "Can you sleep at night, Prince?"

Harry felt his blood run cold at the question.

"What?" he asked, in a voice that showed his surprise.

"I hope you can't sleep. Just the way I can't. I want you to know what it feels like to stay awake at nights, relieving memories you wished you didn't have. To break every night, to suffer endlessly! You will suffer, Prince. You will pay for your deception and your betrayal!"

Harry took a moment to calm himself. This jerk knew a lot about him. He was probably just saying these things to make him feel weak and vulnerable. He knew that by saying these things, accusing him of these crimes he would hit Harry's weak spot. Harry had faced his demons. He was through the torture of his guilt. He wasn't going to let this bastard make him feel guilty again.

"So why are you hiding from me? If you want me to suffer then why don't you come for me? Why hide? Just tell me where to meet you and I'll be there!" Harry snarled in anger.

Again, the tone changed and the voice was calmer, more collected.

"Don't worry, Prince. I will meet you. I just have one more task to do. One more job and then it's just you and me." His voice dropped to almost a whisper before he asked, "You care very deeply about him, don't you?"

Somehow Harry knew who the impostor was talking about and it sent waves of fiery rage through him. His heart began thumping painfully hard in his chest. Harry found his rage was such he couldn't speak. He was gripping the receiver in his hand so tightly it was hurting him.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll stay away from him!" Harry forced the words out from between clenched teeth.

"Ah, such sentiments. It's reassuring to know that his death will break you. Then you will know how it feels." The voice hissed back at Harry.

"You must be out of your mind to even think about hurting him!" Harry spat. "The only thing left for you to do is to suffer!" Harry warned dangerously. "Take my advice and run, because the day I find you will be your last!" Harry hissed.

Another low chuckle before the impostor spoke his last words to end the conversation.

"Keep Damien Potter safe if you can, Prince. It's only a matter of time before I get to him."

A click was heard before the line went dead. Harry couldn't believe what he had just heard. His hands were shaking from anger. He felt like his heart was going to beat its way out of his chest.

He put the receiver down and was vaguely aware of James and Lily asking him questions. But Harry couldn't answer them right now. He looked around the living room and noticed that Damien was missing. Where was he? Harry realised that he hadn't seen Damien the entire day. Was he at the funeral? In his panic he couldn't remember if Damien had come with them or not. He didn't remember seeing him. So where was he?

Harry turned to look at his dad, who was looking at Harry with a concerned and scared expression.

"Where's Damien?" Harry asked in a hoarse voice. His heart was bearing so fast it was making him feel sick.

James looked at Harry blankly, confused at the simple question.

"Dad, where's Damien?!" Harry asked his voice louder and more panicked.

"Harry, what's going on?" James asked. "What did he say to you?" he asked referring to the Dark Prince impostor.

But Harry couldn't waste time repeating that horrid conversation. He had to get to Damien first.

"Dad! Where's Damien!?" Harry had literally shouted the question out.

"He's at the Burrow. He's been there since this morning. He left in front of you, don't you remember?" James answered looking quite worriedly at Harry.

Harry suddenly remembered. After breakfast this morning, Damien had flooed over to the Burrow as the rest were going to attend Marco's funeral. He was going to stay with Ron and the rest as Mr and Mrs Weasley were also attending the funeral.

Without another word to his confused and slightly frightened parents Harry apparated to the Burrow. As soon as Harry appeared in the Weasley's kitchen he scanned the small room for his brother. He could still hear the man's voice ring in his head, '_it's only a matter of time before I get to him._' all Harry could focus on was finding Damien and taking him back to Potter Manor, where it was safe.

He spotted Damien through the window. He was in the middle of a Quidditch game with the Weasley boys. Harry rushed outside, ignoring the looks and greetings he got from Bill and Fleur. Harry had just walked into the garden when Ron and Damien spotted him. They signalled to Fred, George, Percy and Ginny that the game was to be paused. Ron and Damien flew to the ground to meet Harry. Ginny was on her way over to meet Harry as well.

As soon as Damien's feet touched the ground he was grabbed by Harry.

"Harry! What-?!" Damien was cut off as he was unceremoniously grabbed and pulled towards the house by Harry.

Ron watched with wide eyes as Harry didn't say a single word to anyone but grabbed Damien and disappeared back into the house.

"Harry! What are you doing?! Let go of me!" Damien yelled, infuriated at being treated like a rag doll. "What happened? What's gotten into you?!" Damien asked, trying to loosen the tight grip on his arm.

Harry didn't answer but continued to drag Damien into the kitchen and towards the fireplace. Harry wasn't being rude and hurtful on purpose. He was panicked and couldn't explain everything to Damien just now. Once he got him home, and cast a few of his own protective spells on him, then he could go over what had happened. He roughly pushed Damien into the fireplace and threw in a handful of floo powder.

"Go home!" he instructed to the confused boy.

"What's happen-?"

"Damy, please, just get home and I'll tell you. Hurry!" Harry pleaded.

Damien didn't put up any further argument and said 'Potter Manor' in a clear voice. He disappeared in a swirl of green flames. Harry apparated back as well, not sparing even a few words of explanation to the confused Weasleys standing at the door.

xxx

Damien mumbled a few choice words under his breath as he was once again thrown to the other side of the room. He picked himself up from the floor and massaged his sore elbow, which he had banged as the force has propelled him through the air.

"Harry!" he growled, as he pulled down the magical shield that had erupted around him, effectively cocooning him inside a protective bubble.

Damien rushed up the stairs to the first floor, clutching his elbow painfully. He walked inside Harry's room to see Harry still sitting at his desk, studying the papers before him.

"Harry!" he yelled as he banged the door closed behind him.

Harry jumped at the sound and swung around to see Damien standing at his door.

"Damy! What's wrong?" he asked alert and ready, his wand already in his hand.

"I applaud that you can even ask me that!" Damien bit out at him. "That bloody spell you put on the main door threw me across the room again!" he explained.

Harry's expression relaxed before going serious again.

"What were you doing next to the door? I told you to stay indoors!" Harry snapped at him.

"I wasn't anywhere near the door! I was heading towards the window, just to have a peek outside and it threw me back into the middle of the room!"

Harry ignored his brother's complaining and turned around to focus on his papers again.

"I cast the same spell as the door on all the windows. It's for your safety, Damy. It won't do you any harm." He said with his back turned.

"I'll have to disagree." Damien snorted, rubbing at his sore elbow.

Damien was sick of this. It had been two weeks since Harry had spoken to the impostor and he had taken the threat made to Damien's life very seriously. Harry had repeated the whole conversation to Damien and his parents and everyone agreed not to take the impostors words lightly. But in saying that, no one had quite imagined the lengths Harry would go to keep Damien safe.

Damien was effectively banned from going outside. He couldn't even go out to his own back garden. He couldn't floo anywhere and wasn't allowed to even stand next to the windows, in case a curse came at him from outside. Harry didn't trust the wards placed around the Manor as he pointed out to James and Lily by his own example at Hogwarts last year. They weren't as reliable as everyone thought.

So Damien was to stay inside the Manor with not even as much freedom as to look outside the window. The main door was charmed, and now so were the windows, to stop Damien from leaving. They enveloped him in a protective shield to keep him safe from any attacks. Damien felt it all was a bit too much. Potter Manor was already heavily warded and had all sorts of protection spells cast on it. It hardly needed anymore. But that wasn't going to stop Harry casting his own, more powerful spells. Damien had even woken up one night to find Harry in his bedroom, casting all sorts of charms and spells in his room to keep him protected.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Harry! What are you doing?" Damien had asked from his bed.

"Just a few spells, for safety." Harry had replied, casting an eerie yellow light around the windows and roof.

Annoyed Damien had retorted.

"Is that really necessary? I mean in my bedroom? It's not like he's under my bed."

Harry had looked at Damien for a moment before levitating the bed, with Damien still in it, to check what was underneath it.

"Put me down!" Damien had yelled.

"Just checking." Was Harry's only response.

Harry was more determined to find this impostor now. His dedication after Draco's attack was nothing compared to the desperation he now showed. He was in his room studying all the time, even through the night. The rest all came during the day and helped with the research but Harry was continuously researching. He still wasn't any closer to finding the culprit though and this frustrated him.

The only time Harry took a break from his researching was when he went to visit Draco. He would go and just sit in silence next to his friend who was still in a coma. There was no improvement in his condition whatsoever. Harry didn't know why he went to visit Draco, it was just something he found himself doing when he got too frustrated with the failed researching. Just by sitting next to Draco, in complete silence gave him what he needed to go back to his search, more determination.

James and Lily were trying their level best to keep things under control. They were just as worried as Harry was over the threat made to Damien's life and so didn't interfere with Harry's 'instructions' to keep Damien inside Potter Manor. They did however feel for their youngest son as he was starting to feel like a prisoner. They were currently sitting in the living room talking amongst themselves about the situation. Damien suddenly stormed into the room and threw himself angrily onto the sofa.

"Damy?" Lily said sternly, not at all impressed with his attitude.

"Mum, I know that Harry is my brother and I love him and everything, but if I get blasted by one of his _protective_ spells one more time, I think I might blast him in return!" Damien said in annoyance.

"It's for your own safety." Lily said, lines of worry now showing on her face.

"Yeah. I'll be safe but sore." He replied, rubbing at his elbow. It wasn't sore anymore but he wanted to hint to his parents that he had hurt himself, again.

James grinned at him and he took off his glasses to clean them.

"Damy, I'm sure you prefer this arrangement to the previous one." He stated, replacing his glasses and looking at the boy for his reaction.

As expected, Damien's face grew red and he mumbled something incoherent under his breath. James chuckled at his reaction. The situation they were in was far from funny but James had found it hard not to laugh at what was happening last week. Before Harry got the idea of placing charms around the Manor to stop Damien from going outside, he had taken to following Damien around everywhere. As much as Damien was close to Harry and wanted to be in his company, he found very soon that constant supervision was very irritating.

James had perhaps made it worse by commenting to Damien that life had a way of bringing things around in a full circle. Damien annoyed Harry last year by following him around in Hogwarts and now Harry was doing the same to him. Damien had just huffed at that and ignored his dad.

The funny thing was that at times Harry didn't even realise he was doing it. He was still clutching a file, reading it while following Damien from one room to another. No matter how many promises Damien made about not leaving the Manor, Harry didn't want to take any chances.

James remembered spotting an annoyed looking Damien stomp his way over towards the bathroom, Harry trailing him, head lowered reading the file in his hands. Harry walked into the bathroom after Damien. James watched as the door opened a mere second later and Harry was flung back out by a truly irate Damien.

"Sorry, sorry." Harry had muttered.

It was after that day that Harry came up with the charms that would stop Damien from leaving the Manor. The only person that could take Damien out of the Manor was Harry himself. That way Harry didn't have to follow Damien around but was secure in the knowledge that Damien couldn't be tricked into leaving the safety of the Manor.

"It's not like I want something to happen to me! I swear I'll stay inside but Harry's acting like I have a death wish or something!" Damien complained.

"Your brother is only looking out for you. He's worried and if casting these spells will give him peace of mind then there's no harm in that." Lily explained as she got up to head to the kitchen.

Harry suddenly called out from the hallway.

"I'm going out! I'll be back in an hour."

"Okay!" James yelled back, glad that Harry had finally grasped onto the idea of telling them when he was going out.

"Rub it in." Damien muttered to himself as he sank back in his sofa chair and stared into space.

xxx

Harry walked out of the elevator and headed towards Draco's private room. He was utterly exhausted and frustrated at the lack of information he had about this impostor. Sirius had suggested looking at Ginny's memory of her attack again to see if he could get anything from it. Since he had spoken to the impostor, viewing the memory of him might trigger something. Harry didn't think it would do him any good but decided to speak to Ginny about it. It was something he didn't particularly want to discuss with her as it made his insides turn to ice but it was needed. She was coming over tomorrow with the rest so he could talk to her about it then.

Just as Harry walked into Draco's room he was greeted with a strange sight. Standing next to Draco's bed was a man, red haired, with a beard. He was dressed in the hospital staff uniform and was holding a chart in his hand. He looked up just as Harry walked in and for a moment he just stared at Harry without speaking.

The only person Harry ever saw with Draco was Narcissa. But today, it was just this stranger in the room. Harry closed the door behind him and just stared at the man. Nothing seemed weird at first glance but Harry had seen the red haired man gently patting Draco's head when he first walked in. The stranger quickly pulled away when he spotted Harry.

Nervously he cleared his throat.

"I was just checking his progress." He said, holding up the chart.

Harry didn't respond but stood where he was, his eyes fixed to the man.

"Right, well, I better get going." The man looked back at Draco and Harry caught the look of grief in his eyes.

He moved past Harry and headed towards the door.

"You should stay." Harry said without turning around to face the man.

The read haired man stopped next to the door, his hand on the door handle.

Harry turned around to face the man. He had recognised who he was instantly. "Now would be a good time to make up for lost time." Harry said icily.

The red haired man turned around in surprise and stared at Harry.

"Wouldn't you agree, Lucius?" Harry added.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I told you guys he would be back! Please let me know what you think?

The identity of the DPi (Dark Prince impostor) will be revealed very soon. Just a little more patience. Your ideas are welcome, by he way. Let me know who you suspect. Just remember this story is AU, bear that in mind when guessing the identity. Don't look at canon too hard as the characters are moulded to suit me and my story's need!!

Okay, review! Cheers!!


	42. Realm of the Erised

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! Here is the next chappie. Enjoy!

**Chapter Forty Two**

Silence rang in the room and the two wizards stared at each other. Before Harry's eyes, the red hair started changing colour and began to grow. The beard disappeared, leaving Lucius Malfoy's rather haggard looking face.

Harry tried to ignore the state Lucius was in. It was clear to see that he had seen better days. The tired man gave Harry a small smile.

"I should have guessed that you would see through my disguise." he said in his normal voice. Whatever glamour he had been wearing to disguise his appearance and voice had been removed.

"Yeah, well, you don't suit the red hair." Harry answered.

Lucius smiled again and a small laugh escaped him. He looked up at Harry and his eyes showed the emotions he was going through.

"How have you been, Harry?"

Harry looked up at him before turning to look at the comatose Draco.

"Couldn't be worse." He answered honestly.

Lucius walked over to his son's bed and looked at him as well.

"I came as soon as I found out." He said, running a hand over Draco's hair. Harry had never seen the elder Malfoy act so paternal before.

"It took you long enough." Harry said, his attempt at keeping the accusatory tone away was futile.

Lucius looked up at Harry, grey eyes boring into emerald.

"It's not as simple as you think." He said carefully.

"It's simple enough. You ran away. You've been in hiding while you're family suffered." Harry answered.

Lucius looked away and turned his back to Harry, not wanting to look at him.

"My family disowned me long before I _ran_ away. I didn't know they were waiting for me." He said in a voice, thick with resentment.

Harry didn't say anything. Both stood next to Draco's bed in silence. After a few minutes, Harry spoke.

"Where were you?"

Lucius turned around to look at Harry, a forced smile on his face.

"I decided to take a page out of your book and went to the muggle world. I figured no one would look for me there and I was right."

Harry gaped at him. Lucius Malfoy, aristocrat and prejudiced against muggles and muggle borns was _living_ as a muggle! Harry knew that for Malfoy, who was a pureblood, living as a muggle must have been an awful and torturous experience.

"How did that work out for you?" Harry asked, trying to keep the smirk from his face.

"Can't you tell?" he said, gesturing to his ragged state.

"I can, but it will be much better to hear it from you personally." Harry answered.

Lucius stopped to stare at the teen.

"You still like taking pleasure out of my misery, don't you?"

"Some things never change." Harry answered with a smirk.

Lucius smiled at that.

"Yes, some thing never do change." He repeated with a sad smile.

Harry and Lucius spent the next two hours catching up with what was happening. Harry told Lucius about the Dark Prince impostor and how he was the one responsible for Draco's condition. Lucius was visibly stunned. He was seeing red by the time Harry finished re-telling the account of Draco's attack.

"He will pay for what he has done to my son! I will see to it!" he raged, getting up to pace the room.

Harry rolled his eyes.

"Yes, well, since you can't even leave this room without applying glamour, I think the revenge is going to have to wait." Harry scolded.

Lucius ignored him and continued to pace. He only stopped when he turned to look at Draco.

"I never thought I would ever see him hurt like this. I made assurances that Draco never came to any harm." He looked over at Harry and saw that he understood what he was trying to say.

"By being my friend." Harry said out loud.

Lucius nodded his head tightly. He let out a sigh and gripped the end of Draco's bed.

"I always thought that by being your friend, Draco would never come to any harm. Never in my life did I think that that would be the reason for him to get hurt."

Harry felt his face flush but he didn't say anything. Lucius was right. Draco was here because of him. If Draco hadn't helped rescue Harry last year, he wouldn't be in this mess.

"I don't blame you, Harry." Lucius added as he saw the look on the boy's face. "I'm just overwhelmed at the turn of events."

Harry looked up at the clock in the room and saw that he had been here for nearly three hours.

"We should get going. The Healers might come in to check on him." Harry said.

At once Lucius pulled out his wand and applied the glamour that changed his hair to red and the beard appeared on his face.

"I hope to see you again, Harry." He said as he moved towards the door.

He didn't get very far as Harry blocked him, looking at him incredulously.

"Do you think I'm going to let you go?" Harry asked.

"What do you mean?" Lucius asked confused as to what Harry wanted to do to him.

"You're not going back to living like a muggle street rat! You're coming with me." Harry said.

Lucius shook his head slowly.

"I can't. It's too risky. The Ministry…"

"Is too busy clearing up their own mess to pay any notice." Harry interrupted. "I'm not letting you go. You need to be here, for Draco and for Narcissa."

At the mention of his wife, Lucius tensed. After a moment he asked.

"How is she?"

"Distraught. How did you imagine she would be?" Harry answered.

Lucius ducked his head again.

"Where are you planning on taking me?" he asked.

Harry smirked.

"To your in-laws."

xxx

Sirius stared at the blond haired man standing before him. He turned to look at his godson and then back at the blond haired man.

"You must be joking!" he said after a few moments.

"I'm not. I'm serious." Harry answered.

It was perhaps a testament to how shocked Sirius was that he didn't respond with the usual 'you're-not-serious-I'm-Sirius' answer. Instead he looked at Harry as if he were mad.

"You want me to let him stay with me! Him! A Death Eater!" he asked outraged.

"Ex-Death Eater." Harry corrected.

"Harry, you're losing it! He can't stay with me!" Sirius cried out again.

"I told you this would be his answer. I should go." Lucius said and made to leave but Harry stopped him. He turned to look at the other three people in the room. His parents were staring at Harry with the same expression as Sirius. Damien just looked like he was enjoying the scene. He had been dying of boredom lately, this was definitely entertaining.

Harry had brought Lucius Malfoy to Potter Manor and had asked Sirius to come over so he could ask him a favour. Whatever Sirius was expecting, it wasn't this. He had been asked to give refuge to Lucius-bloody-Malfoy!

"Harry, a quick word please!" Lily said, beckoning him over towards the kitchen.

Harry led his mum, dad and Sirius to the kitchen, leaving Damien alone with Lucius.

"What on earth do you think you're doing?!" Lily asked as soon as they walked inside.

"I'm helping a friend." Harry answered.

"You're helping Malfoy!" Sirius hissed at him.

"I know who he is!" Harry mock hissed back at him.

"Harry, you can't be serious about asking Malfoy to be allowed to stay at Grimmauld Place. I mean for a start that is the Headquarters!" James said quietly.

"Exactly! That will be the last place anyone will look for Lucius Malfoy." Harry answered.

James stopped to look at Harry. 'Good point' he thought mentally to himself.

"Harry, I'm not going to let him live in my house! It's just not possible!" Sirius said.

"It's a big enough Manor. Why not?" Harry asked.

"Oh my God, you're actually asking me for a reason? How about half a dozen? He's an arrogant, prejudiced jackass, he _is_ a Death Eater, he walked out on his wife, who happens to be my cousin, he's been killing and torturing people all his life, we've always hated each other and he's a bloody Malfoy!" Sirius stopped to take a breath. "Give me one good reason I should help him!"

Harry stared at Sirius before responding.

"He helped me." All three adults stared at Harry. "Last year, at Riddle Manor. Lucius helped me when no one else did. I'll never forget his act of kindness and I don't care what anyone else thinks of him. I'm going to help him whether you are with me or not." He stated coolly.

James remembered also how Malfoy had mouthed the word 'Hogsmeade' to him when Voldemort had disapparated with Harry. James may have gotten to Hogsmeade eventually by himself but it would have been too late.

Sirius looked around at James, obviously asking for help. At seeing his expression though he faltered. He looked back at Harry's determined expression.

"Oh, bugger!" he cursed and walked out of the kitchen.

Harry smiled and followed him, James and Lily walking out last.

"Alright, Malfoy, you can stay." Sirius said, grinding the words out.

"Wonderful" Lucius drawled with a sneer.

Sirius turned around to face Harry. He was doing this just for Harry but the least Malfoy could do was muster up some honest gratitude. Harry gave Sirius a pacifying look. Sirius only gave Lucius a dirty look before stomping towards the door. Lucius applied the glamour before following Sirius.

Once outside Sirius turned to face him.

"Listen here, Malfoy! I'm only doing this for Harry. I love my godson and this obviously means a lot to him. But I swear on Merlin, if you give me any cheek I'm going to hex the living daylights out of you before throwing you on the Ministry's doorstep! Understand!"

Lucius looked calmly at the worked up Sirius before lazily saying.

"You know, even for a mutt, you bark way too much." With that said he walked ahead, nose held high in the air.

Sirius muttered a few well chosen words before following him.

xxx

It was at breakfast that the owl arrived. It tapped at the window rather aggressively as Harry's added charms meant the owl couldn't fly into the Manor anymore. James got up from the table and moved over to the window. It took the letter from the annoyed owl and let it fly away, hooting in, what could only be described, a complaining manner.

James saw that there were two letters; one was addressed to Harry, the other to Damien. He knew what they were. He could tell by the green ink. He handed the Hogwarts letter to Damien and put Harry's next to his plate, waiting for his son to come down to breakfast.

Damien lazily opened the letter and took a few minutes to read it over.

"The book list gets bigger every year." He commented as he carelessly threw the letter aside.

Lily picked it up and looked through it as well.

"It's your fifth year, your OWL year. It's only natural you need more material." She said.

Harry walked in only moments later and took his seat. He started on his breakfast. He eyed the envelope lying next to his plate, with his name on the front but made no move towards it. James and Lily waited impatiently. Harry had finished Hogwarts, his letter wasn't the usual letter informing students of their coming year at the school. That meant that the letter was his exam results. But it seemed that Harry wasn't even bothered. He didn't spare a single glance towards the envelope lying on the kitchen table.

Damien waited as well, before taking a look at both James and Lily's fervent faces.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Harry! Will you just open it already!" he said, playfully to his brother.

Harry looked up from his plate and grinned at them.

"Why bother? It's not like it will make any difference to me." He said as he poured himself a glass of juice and sat back, sipping it slowly.

"Yes, but if you don't open it soon mum here is going to implode with impatience." Damien replied making Lily scowl at him.

Harry smirked and picked up his letter. He opened it, agonisingly slowly just to make James and Lily suffer. It was only when James let out a small, "come on!" that Harry pulled the award latter out of the envelope. He smiled as he read the letter. Without a word he handed the letter over to Lily, who took it eagerly. Her eyes lit up with pride as she saw all the 'Outstanding' next to the list of NEWTS he had taken.

"Oh, Harry! All 'Outstanding' well done! I'm so proud of you!" she beamed.

Harry only smiled and sneaked a look at his dad. James looked like he had just watched the best Quidditch game. He was positively glowing with pride. Damien gave Harry a punch on the arm and grinned at him as well.

Lily suddenly lost her smile as she studied the letter closely.

"Hold on, something isn't right here." She counted the grades Harry received and looked up at him. "There's one missing. Charms isn't on here." She said looking at the letter again to make sure.

Harry looked away and suddenly felt his face heat up.

"Um, mum!" whispered Damien with a meaningful look.

Suddenly Lily and James remembered why Charms wasn't on Harry's award letter. The looked horrified at Harry and then each other. Harry had been unable to sit his last exam, which was Charms as it was the night before his last exam that he had found Nagini's dead body in his bed. He had been too distressed to sit the exam. Lily felt very guilty for bringing up that awful memory, especially at a moment like this, when everyone was so happy.

"I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't remember." She apologised sincerely.

Harry, as usual, didn't say anything but shrugged her apology away.

"I would have thought they would give you an award for Charms, seeing that it wasn't your fault that you couldn't sit the exam. They could have easily awarded you based on your coursework." Lily went on, unable to fathom that her son had one less NEWT.

"Mum, its fine. I'm not bothered in the least." Harry told her.

"Still, it seems unfair." Lily complained, looking back at the letter.

"I'll survive." Harry said sarcastically.

Lily looked at him and blushed. Harry obviously had other things on his mind. Things that were greatly more important than exam results. They were still no closer to figuring out the impostor's identity, Harry was growing more fearful of Damien's safety with each passing day, Draco was still in a coma and Lucius Malfoy was having difficulties living with Sirius and Narcissa, who had refused to even speak to her husband. Lily looked over at her son and felt a stir of emotions. Harry was really a very selfless person. He always thought of others. Even when he was with Voldemort, he always thought of Voldemort before himself. She shook these thoughts away and got up to clear up the table.

As she passed by Harry she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and congratulated him on his achievements again. Harry blushed and rubbed at his face, wiping away at the spot were Lily had kissed him. Lily noticed that although Harry was making it seem he was wiping away the kiss, his fingers trailed over the spot on his cheek.

"Well, it seems you have a lot to live up to, eh, Damy?" James joked, taking the award letter and having a look himself.

Damien groaned and buried his head into his hands.

"I'm telling both of you now; there is no way I'm getting all Outstandings on my results. I have a reputation to take care off!" he joked.

James and Lily laughed at his words but Harry looked around slowly at Damien and for a minute he just stared at him. His eyes spotted the opened letter sitting next to Damien and he recognised the school crest on the torn envelope.

"I'm warning you too, Mr Potter. No more pranks. From now on, you have to pay attention to your studies." Lily reprimanded lightly.

"Come on, mum. It's Hogwarts. I can't wait until I get back and prank Mrs Norris and her pet, Flich!" Damien replied.

"You're not going."

All three Potters turned to look at the one who had spoken. Harry was still sitting down but his body was all of a sudden held much tenser. Damien's letter was in his hands but he wasn't reading it. Damien blinked in surprise at him.

"Pardon?"

"I said you're not going to Hogwarts." Harry repeated, looking at Damien to show he wasn't fooling around and was serious.

Damien looked from Lily to James and saw that both parents looked just as shocked at he felt.

"I'm sorry, but what are you talking about? Of course I'm going to Hogwarts." Damien replied, trying to stop his anger from taking over.

"I don't think so. You're staying here until I catch him. You won't be safe in Hogwarts." Harry explained.

Damien was about to argue when James spoke up.

"Harry, I think…"

"Please, dad. You know that I'm right. Anything can happen in Hogwarts. Damien's not going back to that school until the impostor is caught." Harry's tone had hardened by the end of his statement.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think you get to decide!" Damien all but yelled. "Regardless of how you act, Harry, you're not my father!"

"I'm perfectly aware of who our father is!" Harry seethed back at him.

"Boys, boys. Calm down, okay." Lily said, rushing forward. The atmosphere had been so relaxed and playful only a few minutes ago. All of a sudden the two boys were at each others throats.

"Dad! You're not going to seriously listen to him, are you?" Damien asked, turning to James.

"Look, Damy, Harry's got a point…" was all James managed to get out before Damien erupted. He shot to his feet.

"I can't believe this! You're taking Harry's side?" he shouted.

"I'm not taking his side, I'm just saying…" James started.

"I know what you're going to say! '_It's for my own good. My safety!_' I'm sick of this! The only thing getting me through was the thought of going back to Hogwarts. I thought I could handle being cooped inside for so long because when I go back to school, I'll have my freedom again!" Damien shouted in frustration.

"Damien, I'm not saying you can't go back at all. I'm just saying you have to stay here until I catch him." Harry explained, a little calmer.

"And when are you going to catch him? How long is it going to be? Face it, Harry. You have nothing on him. Nothing at all. We don't even have a name! Just his initials. How long will it take for you to track him down and catch him?" Damien asked, eyeing Harry angrily.

"That's crossing a line, Damien. You know how hard Harry is working, how hard everyone is working to find this guy. Sooner or later we will have him." James said.

Damien calmed a bit and turned to Harry.

"I know that. I know you're trying but Harry, you can't keep me hidden forever. I don't even think he was serious about getting to me. I think he only said that to you so you focused on keeping me safe while he planned on doing something else." Damien had been thinking about this for awhile.

"Regardless of whether he meant it or not, you're not leaving the Manor. Not until I get him." Harry said.

Damien turned to his parents and pleaded them to let him go.

"Dad?"

With a tired sigh, James turned to both of his sons.

"Look, Harry does have a very good point, however…" he added quickly as Damien got ready to throw another tantrum. "…however, I think we can sort this out so you can attend your fifth year."

Harry snapped his head around to stare at James while Damien let out a breath of relief.

"What?" Harry asked not able to believe that James was willing to take the risk.

"I have a way that will keep Damien safe while he's at Hogwarts." James said, a smile gracing his face.

"Oh, what's that?" Harry asked, half intrigued and half annoyed.

"I'm going to be at Hogwarts." James answered.

Both Damien and Harry stared at James.

"You're going to _guard_ me. No, no way!" Damien objected at once.

"I didn't say anything about being a guard." James said. "I've been offered the Defence Against the Dark Arts post."

Damien and Harry gaped at him. He had kept that very quiet.

"When did this happen?" Harry asked.

"A few days ago." Lily answered, coming to join the rest at the table. "Dumbledore sent him the official letter, asking him to join the staff at Hogwarts."

Harry looked back at James.

"And you're taking the job?" he asked.

"I told Dumbledore that I would think about it. But I did enjoy teaching. If I take the job it would mean that I can be there to keep an eye on Damien."

Damien was looking a lot happier at the revelation. Harry however, still wasn't convinced.

"Dad, if you're going to be teaching, then you won't have the time to watch Damien. It's still too risky."

"Harry, come on!" Damien said, pleading him to give in.

"No! Why are you guys acting like this isn't a big deal? Is Hogwarts that important that you're willing to risk your life?" Harry asked, turning to Damien.

"No, but…"

"But nothing! You're not going and I don't care how much you whine and complain. Once I catch that bastard, I'll take you to Hogwarts myself." With that Harry got up and left the kitchen, leaving the rest in awkward silence.

xxx

Harry appeared in the living room, his feet unsteadily hitting the ground. Harry straightened up and turned to face a grim looking Ginny. Harry had just come back from the pensive after watching the memory of Ginny's attack again.

James moved towards Harry in concern, he didn't look too good. Harry sat down and closed his eyes, trying to get the image of the attack to leave him. He thanked all the Gods that Ginny had survived without much damage. He had taken an awful risk. Pushing those thoughts aside Harry looked up to face James.

"Any luck?" James asked, hoping against hope that this time Harry had managed to recognise the impostor.

Harry shook his head.

"No, nothing." He said rubbing at his forehead in frustration.

"Oh, well, it was worth a try. Don't worry, Harry. We'll get him." James said patting Harry on the shoulder.

Harry absent-mindedly nodded his head. They would get him but how much longer was it going to take? Damien was still in a mood with him because he was still refusing to let him go to Hogwarts.

He looked up to see Ginny sit next to him. She gave him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, Harry. We'll find him." she said quietly.

Harry looked away. He was running out of time. He needed to find that bastard before he made any move to hurt anyone else.

"By the way, was the memory intact this time?" James asked, sitting opposite to Harry.

"Yeah" Harry answered.

He had been surprised to see the memory without it becoming distorted. It seems James' theory was right, that if the memory was from a secondary source and not the person whose memory it actually was, then the memory became distorted and fuzzy. Since Harry took the memory directly from Ginny this time, he saw it without any problems.

A thought suddenly occurred to Harry. If that was true then maybe the reason he couldn't see Bella properly in his recurring dream was because that memory wasn't being sent to him by Bella. Maybe what Harry was seeing in his dream was a _memory_ of that memory. Maybe it was someone else's account of the attack that was being projected to him. Harry felt his heart clench tightly at the thought. He knew, without a doubt that it could only be one person who could see that memory and send him it in his dream.

But the question was, why was Voldemort sending him this memory? What was it about that memory that had any connection to Harry? What did Bella have to do with anything?

xxx

Harry let out an annoyed growl and threw the useless paper work away from himself. It was no good. No matter how much he studied, he wasn't any closer to finding him.

"Harry, you need to rest." Ginny stated, picking up the papers that Harry had scattered.

"Yeah, mate you've been doing this without a break. You should rest a bit." Ron added.

The group of teens were sitting in Damien's room, once again, looking through the mass of paperwork trying to piece together the identity of the Dark Prince impostor. Harry rubbed at his eyes and looked back up at the next file. His eyes were red and bloodshot from lack of sleep and rest. He was spending every moment he had on searching for the impostor.

Damien watched from his seat. He felt terrible. He knew that Harry was trying to find the impostor before the first of September, so he could go to Hogwarts without any threat. He felt very guilty for adding this stress to an already fretful Harry.

Harry was growing more anxious as time passed by and he got no closer to figuring out who this impostor was. The only suspect they had was the wizard Cole Bailey. Harry had asked Remus and Sirius to look for anything the Ministry had on Cole Bailey but it came back with nothing. There was nothing on him. It was as if a wizard with that name never existed. Harry had even asked Lucius but he hadn't heard of him either. Harry had then asked Hermione to see what she could get from muggle sources. The impostor had made one mistake when he threatened Harry. He had made a _phone call_. He had used muggle technology, thus indicating that he was familiar with muggle items. Harry was certain that he was muggle born.

Hermione was currently with Sirius in the muggle world, doing as Harry had asked her.

"Harry, go and lie down." Damien said quietly as he saw how his brother fought his tiredness.

"I'll sleep all I want after I catch him." Harry replied.

Damien sighed and got up. He walked over to Harry and pulled the file away from his fingers.

"I swear, if you don't go to bed, I'll hex you and force you to sleep!" he threatened.

"Damy…"

"Harry, please. I'm sorry about what I said about going to Hogwarts. I swear I won't go until you find him. But you don't have to do this. Go and rest, you're literally falling asleep. Rest for a bit and then we'll keep looking."

"I'm waiting for Hermione…" Harry started.

"We'll wake you when she arrives." Ron said at once.

Harry tried to argue but his fatigue was catching up with him. He gave up when Ginny dragged him to his bedroom and guided him to the bed.

"You don't have to tuck me in." Harry said, fighting a yawn.

Ginny only smiled and kissed him.

"Sleep." She ordered and left the room, closing the door over gently.

Harry's eyes fluttered closed of their own accord and he was asleep in a matter of seconds.

xxx

Harry squinted against the sharp glare of the sun. He looked around himself and saw that he was in a park. It looked like a muggle park. There were children everywhere, swinging on the swings, chasing each other around the grass, queuing in front of the ice cream van. The parents of the children were sitting on the grass, watching and laughing at the sight of their children playing.

Harry looked around in amazement. He knew he was dreaming since he had never been to a muggle park before. He walked amongst the giggling children as they played, oblivious to Harry's presence. Harry watched in fascination at the happenings around him.

Just a few steps ahead of him was a young man. He looked slightly older than Harry, nineteen, maybe twenty years old. He was leaning against the green railings surrounding the park and was watching the scene with just as much interest as Harry.

Harry spotted him and for a moment he stared at the young man. He took in the familiar appearance, tall lean figure, black hair, handsome features and striking green eyes. Harry was taken aback as he caught the sight of the green eyes. The young man had looked over at Harry and as their eyes met, Harry felt a thrill of familiarity hit him. The young man looked away from Harry, a smile on his face.

Harry looked away as well and wondered what was going on. He chanced another look at the dark haired boy and saw that he was still smiling.

"I guess you like this appearance more than the other one." The boy said as he turned to face Harry, a smirk on his face.

Harry felt like the ground under his feet had moved. He stared at the boy, gaping at the sight. He could recognise that smirk anywhere.

"Voldemort?" Harry asked his voice breathless with shock.

"Actually, it's Tom Riddle." The dark haired boy replied, still smirking.

xxx

Ginny, Ron and Damien were quietly studying in Damien's room. Each engrossed in the file or paperwork before them. They were so deeply concentrating that they didn't hear the doorbell ring downstairs.

James opened the door to a strange sight. Hermione and Sirius were standing at the door, along with the blond haired ex-Death Eater.

"Malfoy?" James asked looking at him in complete surprise.

"Potter. Can we come in now?" he asked rather annoyed.

James ushered all three inside looking at them as they were mad.

"What the hell are you playing at? You can't walk around like this in daylight! What if someone saw you?" he asked the man.

"There's no time to worry about that." Lucius said, brushing aside James. "We have bigger problems."

James saw the look of worry and panic on all three and felt his own heart rate speed up.

"You found him, didn't you?" he asked.

"Yeah. James, you're not going to believe this." Sirius replied gravely.

xxx

Harry stared at the young Voldemort, Tom Riddle, in shocked surprise.

"Really, there is no need to stare." Tom said as Harry was yet to speak.

Harry snapped out of his daze and took a step back.

"How is this possible?" Harry asked.

Tom looked away from Harry and surveyed his surroundings, his eyes, so similar to Harry's, scanning the area. Harry was staring at the young Voldemort. It was definitely him. But his eyes were still their natural colour, they hadn't turned red yet.

"Why are you here?" Harry asked, regaining some of his senses.

Tom turned to Harry.

"I think the question is; why are you here?"

Harry looked around him again and this time his thoughts were clear to read from his face. Tom laughed making Harry jerk back to look at him.

"No, Harry. We're not in hell."

Harry felt his heart somersault in his chest as he heard his name being spoken again by Voldemort. It wasn't like his nightmares; there was no malice or hate in the voice, just comfort and a sense of belonging.

"Where are we then?" Harry asked, his voice sounding strangely calm for how he was feeling.

"It's called the Realm of the Erised." Tom stated. "It's a place where your deepest desires are brought before you."

Tom wasn't looking at Harry as he spoke. His eyes were fixed on a spot before him. Harry followed the direction of his gaze and saw two people, a man and women, sitting on the grass, laughing and smiling lovingly at a small child. The child had black hair and striking green eyes. He looked to be around the age of three, maybe four years old. He was trying to run in circles around the pair but the man would grab the child as he made to run past him. The dark haired man was laughing as he tickled the child making the child squeal with happiness. Harry saw that the handsome, dark haired man bore an uncanny resemblance to Tom Riddle. Harry saw the blonde women sitting next to him and suddenly he knew who he was seeing. It was Tom Riddle senior and Merope Gaunt. Voldemort's parents.

Harry looked back at the dark haired boy standing next to him and saw that he was gazing at the small child, who was still giggling and playing with his parents, with a yearning look. Tom looked over at Harry and smiled.

"Abandonment is perhaps every child's fear." He said in explanation.

Harry didn't know what to say and so just stared at the scene before him. He had never thought underneath Voldemort's exterior, he still craved the one thing that he was denied, parents.

"Why am I here?" Harry asked with difficulty.

"I brought you here." Tom answered, looking away from his parents and focusing all his attention on Harry.

"Why?" Harry asked. "Was haunting me every night not enough? Why did you bring me here?"

Tom looked at Harry carefully.

"Is that what you thought I was doing? Haunting you?" he asked truly surprised.

Harry was taken aback.

"Weren't you?" he asked.

"I wasn't haunting you. I was trying to reach you though. But every time you detected my presence your guilt took over, making you see what you didn't want to see. It was your own guilt that troubled you. I didn't do anything to you."

Harry stared at him, not sure if he could believe him. All those nightmares and visions he had of Voldemort dying, all of that was his own guilt? It wasn't Voldemort trying to drive him insane?

"Why were you trying to contact me if you didn't want to haunt me?" Harry asked with difficulty.

"Because you needed me." Tom answered, a playful smirk on his face.

Harry didn't say anything. It was true. He did need him. He needed him even now.

"Why would you want to help me after what happened? I…I killed you." Harry almost whispered the last part.

Tom didn't speak. He looked towards the fabricated image of what his childhood might have been like if his parents were with him. After a few moments he spoke.

"I killed him." he gestured towards Tom Riddle senior. "I killed him as well as my Grandparents. It was one of the murders I felt were justified."

Harry looked again at the image of the playful father with his child and looked back at the teen Tom Riddle. He understood what he was trying to say. Even though Voldemort killed his father, it didn't change what his deepest desire was. He still wanted his father's love, even when in reality he was responsible for his death.

Harry felt like a weight had come away from him. The guilt that had plagued him ever since Voldemort's death, had suddenly evaporated. He looked at Tom and could see the small smirk play on his lips.

"Why did you bring me to the Realm of the Erised?" Harry asked, feeling a lot more relaxed than before.

"It was the only place I could bring you to help you." Tom answered.

"You don't stay here?" Harry asked, thinking that maybe this was where Tom Riddle had been the whole time.

Something flickered in Tom's eyes and he looked away.

"No, Harry. I don't belong here." His tone was quiet. Since Harry came here it was the first time Tom lost his smile.

Harry didn't want to ask where he belonged. He already knew the answer and he couldn't bear thinking about it.

"I could really have used your help lately." Harry said, leaning back on the railings, head bowed. "I've tried everything I can think of but I still can't get to this impostor that's threatening me. I don't know what else to do." Harry said dejectedly.

"Come on, Harry. You can't tell me you still haven't figured it out." Tom said, his smile back on his face.

Harry looked at him in surprise.

"You know who it is?" Harry asked.

Tom only smirked and suddenly started walking away.

"Hey!" Harry yelled running behind him. "Where are you going?"

Tom kept walking and didn't slow down. Harry ran after him, dodging the playing children.

"Voldemort! Tom! Wait!" Harry yelled.

Suddenly Tom stopped in the middle of the park. Harry ran up to him.

"What happened? Where were you going?" Harry asked.

"To give you your answer." Tom replied.

Harry didn't know what he was talking about until he felt a shadow fall over him. He looked straight ahead and the sight took his breath away. Standing before him, smiling at him was Bellatrix Lestrange.

Harry couldn't find the words to speak. He just stared in numbed belief. Bella walked over to stand before Harry, her smile held such sadness it made Harry want to look away. He didn't though.

"I don't understand." Harry whispered.

"We're here because you _want_ us to be here, Harry." Tom explained. "It was your deepest desire to be with us that allowed us to come here. I've been trying to get you to come with me ever since last year to show you what you need to know. You must have dealt with your guilt since you managed to come with me today."

Harry never got a chance to ask Tom what he was talking about for at that very moment Bella reached out and touched the side of Harry's head. Her fingers touched Harry's temple and suddenly Harry found himself being thrown into a whirlpool of memories. None of them were his own.

xxx

James stared at the three people before him.

"What?" he asked, not able to understand why they were so flustered.

"We know who the impostor is." Hermione said again, echoing Sirius' words.

"Who is it?" James asked at once, wondering why they hadn't yelled the name out yet.

"It's Cole Bailey." Sirius said.

James felt a sense of relief flood him. They knew the name of the impostor. He didn't know who Cole Bailey was but at least they would have an easier time tracking him now.

"Okay, why are you all so worked up?" James asked, not understanding why everyone looked panicked.

The three exchanged looks with each other. Sirius stepped forward.

"James, do you know who Cole Bailey is?" he asked.

"Um, he's Cole Bailey." James answered.

"Have you ever heard of him?" Lucius snapped, clearly impatient.

"No" James answered.

"Neither has anyone else. He was a Death Eater but I've never heard his name before. Doesn't that strike you as strange?" Lucius asked.

"I guess, but I just thought he was a nobody." James admitted.

"That's not the case." Sirius said, looking quite pale.

"What are you talking about? What's the matter?" James asked, now clearly unnerved.

"James, what would have happened if Voldemort was ever captured and put on trial? What name would have appeared on his paperwork? Would it be the name he fashioned for himself, Lord Voldemort? Or would it be his given name, Tom Riddle?" Sirius asked.

James looked at Sirius in confusion.

"It would be his real name, Tom Riddle." James answered.

"That's the reason why we don't recognise the name Cole Bailey. That is why Harry doesn't recognise the name either. The problem was that Cole Bailey wasn't known to the wizarding world by that name. He was known by another name" Sirius' words faltered and he looked like he couldn't believe what he was about to say.

At the same time Hermione pulled a photocopy of a muggle newspaper from her bag and wordlessly handed it to James. James looked at the black and white unmoving picture of a handsome dark haired man. He snapped up to look at Sirius, his breath caught in his chest.

"Cole Bailey was known to the wizarding world as Rodolphus Lestrange." Sirius managed to choke out.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Okay, the what, how, when, where will be explained in the next chappie, the last chapter of 'A Part of Me'.

Please remember that since the story is AU, the characters and their backgrounds are also AU. I will explain everything in the next chapter, Promise!

Please review! Cheers!


	43. Truths of the Past

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! Here is the next chappie. It's extra long! Enjoy!

**Chapter Forty Three**

Harry tried to make sense of what he saw before him. He tried to slow down the influx of memories that Bella was giving him but all he saw was rushing flashes of Bella's past. Slowly the flashes of images started to slow down so Harry could make sense of what he was seeing.

The first proper memory he saw was of a very young looking Bella. She looked like she was in her mid twenties. She was standing next to blonde girl, who Harry realised with a jolt was Narcissa. Both girls were standing in front of a group of boys. By the décor and atmosphere around them it looked like a formal Ball of some sort. Harry recognised the Manor they were standing in front of as belonging to Cygnus Black, Narcissa and Bella's father.

Bella was focusing her attention on a young dark haired man. It only took one look for Harry to recognise him. It was Bella's husband, Rodolphus Lestrange. Harry felt his heart leap in his chest at the sight of him. Harry was only ten years old when Rodolphus had been killed but Harry a lot of memories of him. A lot of good memories.

Harry watched the memory of Bella speaking to Rodolphus for what seemed like the very first time.

"Who is your friend?" Bella asked a sandy haired man who Harry didn't recognise.

The man clapped a hand on Rodolphus' back and introduced him.

"This is Rodolphus Lestrange."

Bella looked at the incredibly handsome, dark haired man. She focused on his amazing blue eyes that sparkled with life. She smiled at him and Harry realised that he had never seen her smile like that before. It was full of life and she looked less like a Death Eater and more like a normal witch.

"Lestrange? I thought the only descendant of the noble house of Lestrange was Rabastan Lestrange. I am most certain I read about his misfortunate death last year." She said, never taking her eyes away from the man before her.

Harry turned to watch the reaction of Rodolphus. He noticed straight away the look in his eyes. He was smiling at Bella but his eyes had a strange look in them. An almost longing look, there was no other word to describe it. Without breaking eye contact he answered.

"Rabastan was my elder brother. You are quite correct. He died last year."

Bella dropped her gaze as she muttered a small condolence. It was clear from her tone that she wasn't sorry of his death as she didn't know him. Harry knew that that was just Bella; it was her way of thinking. However, this didn't seem to affect Rodolphus. He shrugged away her pitiful condolence and started talking to her. The two seemed so deeply engrossed with each other that they ignored their surrounding company.

"I never knew there was a last remaining descendant of Lestrange. You're a surprise." Bella said. Harry cringed as he heard the flirty underlying tone.

Rodolphus laughed and Bella seemed to stop in her tracks. The sight of the handsome man laughing had visibly taken her off guard.

"That I am." He replied and fixed Bella with another dazzling smile. "I was the youngest; my parents never really bothered introducing me to anyone of importance. In fact I never even lived with them I've been living abroad my whole life. I only came back last year, after my brother's death." He explained.

This time Bella looked genuinely sorry. She looked away and shot a spiteful look at her father who was standing with a crowd of people, happily discussing politics. She looked over at Narcissa who was too busy chatting with her blond haired boyfriend, to notice her sister's expression.

"I know what that feels like." She said quietly.

"You're the youngest as well, aren't you?" Rodolphus asked.

Bella nodded her head and looked away.

The memory started to fade and was soon replaced with another one. Bella was with Narcissa again but this time they were outside a café and seemed to be chatting about something. Harry watched as the two sisters sat in the sun, sipping on their cold drinks. Bella's dark hair was really long, longer that he remembered and she kept flicking it behind her shoulders. Harry spotted a young man, Rodolphus, came out of a bookstore. He looked over and saw the two female Blacks and waved at Bella who waved back, a smile spreading quickly on her pretty face. Rodolphus started walking towards them.

"Oh, I see your stalker has found you again." Narcissa said slyly, sipping her drink while keeping her eyes fixed on Bella.

"He's not a stalker." Bella admonished.

"Uh-huh, so why is it for the last few months he appears wherever you go?" Narcissa asked, a smirk on her face.

Bella rolled her eyes at her older sister and focused on her drink.

"It's called coincidence, Cissy." She said with her eyes diverted.

Narcissa looked over at the still approaching Rodolphus and quickly whispered to her sister.

"He seems really nice, I think you should give him a chance."

Bella looked at Narcissa in exaggerated shock.

"Are you mad? I can't date him! I have other commitments."

The playful look on Narcissa's face was replaced by a look that showed both fear and annoyance.

"Yes, well, I think you deserve to have more than one _commitment_!"

Bella's retort was cut off by the arrival of Rodolphus who greeted both sisters warmly. Harry could clearly see the look of approval on Narcissa's face as she beamed at the dark haired man. Bella seemed uneasy at first but soon melted at Rodolphus' presence.

The memory slowly faded away to be replaced by another one. This time it was just two people in front of Harry. It looked like a good time had passed as Bella looked slightly older than that last memory. Harry could tell right away that regardless of what she had told her sister, Bella and Rodolphus had evidently come a lot closer and a relationship had formed.

Harry watched as Bella spoke quietly and somewhat seriously to Rodolphus.

"I know that you want an answer but it's a lot more complicated than that." She said with her eyes turned away from him.

Rodolphus smiled again and took her hands into his.

"It's not complicated Bella. It's simple. 'Yes' or 'No', personally I would say 'Yes'." He said before laughing.

At the sound of his laugh Bella looked up at him. She studied him closely and finally gave a reluctant smile.

"I want to say 'Yes' but I need you to know something about me before that."

"Whatever it is, I accept it. There is nothing about you that I don't love." Rodolphus said kissing Bella's hand.

Harry quickly looked away. This was making him blush; it was like watching his parents being romantic with one another, very awkward and very wrong.

Bella looked at Rodolphus. Keeping her eyes locked with him she pulled up the left sleeve to her robes to reveal the dark tattoo of the Dark Mark. Rodolphus looked at it before gently running his finger across the mark. He looked back up at Bella, his expression unreadable.

"If you want me, you have to accept this too. This is the true me. I belong to Him, to the Dark Lord. If you really want to marry me then you will have to accept this into your life." Bella said seriously, her eyes never leaving Rodolphus' face.

Rodolphus looked at Bella, his blue eyes boring into hers. He was still holding her left hand. He suddenly pulled her arm, exposing the mark again and he lowered his head, kissing the mark and touching his forehead to it, a sign of respect.

Bella seemed caught off guard but her face exploded into a deeply relieved smile. Rodolphus straightened up and smiled at her again. Bella threw her arms around him before laughing, her relief and previous nervousness showing in her laugh. She kissed him deeply just as the memory faded.

Harry was wondering why he was watching Bella and Rodolphus' private moments but was unable to do anything about it. He watched as another memory materialised before him. This time the surroundings took his breath away. He was standing in Voldemort's chamber.

The torches hung low on the walls, throwing the room into flickering shadows. The chamber was filled with masked men in dark robes and white masks. Harry watched with a thumping heart as a sole figure walked to stand before the mass of masked men. Voldemort stood silently as he scanned the room through crimson eyes. He raised a hand, gesturing a silent command. Harry watched in awe as a figure clad in ritualistic robes came out from the crowd and walked steadily to Voldemort. He kneeled down and kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes. His face was hidden as his hood was pulled over his head. He sat on his knees and waited patiently for his master.

Voldemort looked down at the man sitting obediently at his feet. Harry watched closely. He knew what was happening even though he had never been present at one of these meetings. It was the marking ritual. This was when a new Death Eater was initiated and given the Dark Mark.

Two Death Eaters appeared at Voldemort's side. One of them removed the white mask and revealed herself. The only female Death Eater. She watched, visibly worried as Voldemort spoke with the man sitting on the ground before him. Whatever Voldemort said wasn't heard, even though the chamber was deathly silent. The figure spoke with its head lowered.

"Yes, Master."

Voldemort straightened and looked at the man before turning his head to look pointedly at Bella. His eyes rested on her and she too looked at her master with a worried and fretful look.

"Rise!" came the command.

The hooded man rose to stand on his feet. Voldemort extended his hand while the other hand revealed his wand. The hooded man finally lowered his hood so his face was visible to Voldemort.

Harry already knew who it was. Rodolphus' handsome face appeared behind the hood and although he looked nervous, that did nothing to the playful glint in his eyes. Voldemort seemed to disagree with the expression in his eyes but didn't say anything. Rodolphus offered his left arm to Voldemort and stood rigid, waiting for the branding.

Voldemort seemed to be studying the man before him. His wand shook ever so slightly but Harry saw it. He knew what that meant. It meant that Voldemort was unsure of something. That itself was unnerving since it was very rare for Voldemort to be unsure of his actions. He took Rodolphus' arm and pressed the tip of his wand to the forearm.

Rodolphus didn't flinch as the spell was spoken and the Dark Mark started spreading across his forearm. The skin burned and itched as the tattoo was burned indefinitely on his skin. Rodolphus turned his head so he could see Bella. His eyes were fixed on her and a small smile graced his face. Through the excruciating pain of having the Dark Mark burned intro his forearm, Rodolphus kept his eyes fixed on Bella, almost like it didn't hurt as much if he was looking at her. The smile never left his face as the tattoo was completed.

Just as Voldemort let Rodolphus' arm drop away from him, the room began to fade away and Harry found himself being thrust into another memory. He saw Rodolphus and Bella in the potions lab in Riddle Manor. Both were standing before cauldrons brewing a colourless potion. Harry recognised it straight away as the truth potion, Vertiserum. With a jolt Harry saw his own eight year old self sitting near the front of the lab, deep in lesson with Lucius Malfoy. Harry remembered that day himself. He was in the middle of his potions lesson when Bella and Rodolphus had came in, insisting that they needed to make up an emergency batch of the truth potion on Voldemort's orders. Lucius had made a fuss but allowed them access as the orders had come straight from the Dark Lord himself.

Harry remembered how Rodolphus had walked in behind Bella, his usual charming smile on his face. He annoyed Lucius by walking straight inside without apologising for disrupting his potions lesson. He had ruffled Harry's messy hair as he walked by, annoying Lucius even more. The eight year old Harry had just mock glared at him before turning around and secretly grinning at him. Lucius and Rodolphus were forever in competition with each other. Harry didn't want to make it any worse for them.

As the eighteen year old Harry watched the memory, he saw Bella and Rodolphus quietly whispering to each other.

"Do you know why the Dark Lord has ordered emergency brewing of Vertiserum?" Rodolphus asked. He asked the question casually but there was something about his voice that alerted Harry. Perhaps it was nervousness?

"I don't know. He probably just wants the stores to be kept up to date." Bella answered as she stirred the potion counter clockwise.

"I was under the impression he wanted to interrogate someone." Rodolphus said, his words said carefully and worriedly.

Bella cocked up an eyebrow at him and said in a mocking tone.

"Ooh, a guilty conscience, huh? Are you afraid he might slip you some?"

Harry could see that Rodolphus smiled and laughed Bella off, but there was something in his eyes when Bella spoke, something that made Harry feel that maybe what Bella had joked about may have been true.

"You know I don't have any secrets." Rodolphus said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"I know, and it better stay that way." Bella warned playfully.

The memory faded away and Harry found himself starting to worry. Why was Bella showing him these memories? Did Rodolphus have a secret? What did that have to do with Harry? Why was he shown these memories? Rodolphus was dead. Harry knew that, he remembered the day he had seen Rodolphus' dead body and Bella's broken form sitting next to it. He remembered how angry is father, Voldemort, had been when he saw the dead body of one of his most talented Death Eater, being brought in by the others. It had taken Harry a few days to get over the pain in his scar and the pain in his heart at losing Rodolphus. He and Draco were very fond of Bella's husband and they knew that Rodolphus was very fond of them also.

Harry forced himself out of these thoughts when he felt another memory materialise before him. This time, Harry felt his breath leave him completely. He was standing in the midst of a raid. A raid that involved the Death Eaters and blue robed Aurors. There were flashes of light everywhere as the spells zoomed in every direction. Harry watched the familiar scene with a thumping heart. He had seen this; he had seen this very memory again and again in his dreams for the past year.

Harry watched the memory even though he knew what he was going to see. He saw Bella appear, laughing and thoroughly enjoying the raid. Harry watched as she removed her mask and started duelling. Suddenly Harry realised that he was going to be able to see this memory in full. Since he was watching Bella's memory, there should be no distortion. He was finally going to see what happened to her to make her gasp out in pain.

Sure enough, after a few minutes of duelling a stray curse caught Bella in her side. Bella's gasp of pain rang in Harry's ears. Bella's robes were stained as blood leaked from a horrendous cut, just under her ribs. Bella tried, but she was unable to stop the next curse from hitting her. Bella was too busy duelling the two Aurors before her and couldn't stop the third Auror from hitting her with a body bind curse.

Bella hit the ground with a cry. She struggled against the curse but her stiff limbs were under the spell and she couldn't break out of it. Only her eyes were free from the effects of the curse and she frantically looked around herself.

Harry watched as three Aurors made their way over to her, intending to do more harm or arrest her. Bella's wide panicked eyes scanned the area frantically and finally rested on someone. Harry followed her gaze and saw Rodolphus. He had just cast the killing curse on an Auror and had turned around to see Bella on the ground, bleeding and in pain.

At that same moment a shout of 'Retreat!' was heard. The Death Eaters were being instructed to leave.

Harry knew the panicked thoughts running through Rodolphus' mind at that moment. He couldn't leave Bella. Loud pops were heard as Death Eaters starting apparating away. The three Aurors heading towards Bella were either going to kill her or attempt to arrest her. Judging by the littered bodies of the Death Eaters, it didn't look like these Aurors were interested in making arrests.

Rodolphus attempted to blast the three Aurors away from Bella's fallen form but only two men flew away from Bella. The other Auror pointed at Bella and the words of the killing curse was already leaving his lips. It all happened in the blink of any eye but for Harry it seemed as if everything had slowed down.

He saw the look of sheer panic and fear in Bella's eyes as she locked eyes with her husband. Rodolphus reached over and pulled the chain around his neck. The chain snapped and Rodolphus threw it with all his might towards Bella. The look on his face as he threw the chain was clear to read. He knew he was never going to see her again. Harry could see the raw pain in his eyes as he watched the chain land on Bella.

Just as the chain hit Bella's still immobile form, the portkey was activated and Bella was pulled with the portkey, back to Riddle Manor, back to safety.

The memory abruptly ended as Bella was portkeyed away but Harry caught the final glimpse of the Auror's green light hitting the spot Bella had been at only a mere second ago. The last thing Harry saw was Rodolphus being hit by two Aurors.

Harry was breathing hard. Watching that last memory had been torture. He assumed that the Aurors must have killed Rodolphus after he portkeyed Bella to safety. Harry hadn't known that Rodolphus had done that. He had sacrificed himself for her. He felt an odd emotion bubble inside him. He never knew Bella and Rodolphus had been that much in love. He remembered Narcissa once saying that Bella was never quite the same after Rodolphus' death. He understood that now.

Just as Harry thought the memories were finished, he found himself standing inside Riddle Manor. As soon as Harry saw the two figures in the otherwise empty chamber, he felt his insides turn to ice. Voldemort was standing with Bella. Harry had never seen anyone look as broken as Bella did right now. She had her head lowered but he could see that her face was pale, her eyes red rimmed but it was the look of complete horror on her face that took Harry's breath away.

Voldemort was watching her, his red eyes looking at her without a hint of mercy in them. Harry didn't understand what was going on. He looked from Voldemort back to Bella and this time he spotted a thin file in Bella's hand. It was clutched tightly in her hands but she wasn't looking at it. She seemed to be in shock.

"It…it can't be." She whispered, her voice laced with pain.

Voldemort reacted to her words by snarling at her.

"It is true! The truth is before your eyes!" he said pointing at the papers held in her hands. "You brought him here! Presented him before me without investigating his background! Look where that led you!"

Harry was finding it truly bizarre how Voldemort could be so angry and it not affect Harry in the slightest. His scar hadn't hurt ever since Voldemort' death, last year. He knew that when this must have happened, he must have suffered severely. Voldemort was beyond angry, he was livid.

Bella still hadn't looked up but shook her head a fraction. That made Voldemort lose whatever patience he had. He marched up to Bella and grabbed her harshly by the arms, forcing the shocked woman to fearfully look at him.

"Do you understand what has happened?! He lied to you! He lied to me! Are you taking any of this in?!" he hissed at her. "You've been misled! The filthy half blood lied to you! He lied about everything! He's not a Lestrange! He's a half blood, the bastard child of some filthy mudblood!"

Harry watched feeling bile rise in his throat from pure fear. He had never seen Voldemort like this and it wasn't easy watching Bella cower and cry before him. He didn't know if her tears were because of fear or because of something else.

"Master! I…I…" Bella couldn't talk. She was shaking and crying as Voldemort continued to hiss at her.

"You took his word and convinced me that he was the last descendant of the Lestrange family. I only allowed him in my presence because of you! What became of your trust in him? He used you, lied to you. He's not Rodolphus Lestrange. There never _was_ a Rodolphus Lestrange! That man you married and brought into my service is a half blood by the name of Cole Bailey!" Voldemort shouted, gesturing to the file in Bella's hands.

His words hit Harry like physical blows. Rodolphus Lestrange was Cole Bailey?! He had lied about being a pureblood and had pretended to be someone else. But why? Suddenly Harry remembered the very first memory Bella showed him. The look of longing in Rodolphus' eyes when he looked at Bella made sense now. He must have been in love with Bella. As everyone knew of the Black family's obsession with purebloods, he pretended to be the last descendant of a dead family to get close to Bella.

Harry felt sick. Rodolphus wasn't Rodolphus at all. He was Cole Bailey, a half blood wizard who pretended to be a pureblood. Harry suddenly realised the enormity of the revelation. If Rodolphus was in fact Cole Bailey then that meant that the person who was impersonating the Dark Prince, the person responsible for trying to frame him for attacks and killings, the person responsible for Draco's condition was Rodolphus!

Harry's head was spinning. The phone call made to threaten Harry with Damien's life, that was Rodolphus. The fight Harry had had on the rooftops of Hogwarts, that had been with Rodolphus. Every time Harry saw the masked figure's picture in the newspaper, that had been Rodolphus staring back at him.

Harry felt like he could easily throw up. Rodolphus was the one behind everything. But Harry still didn't understand how that was possible. He had seen Rodolphus' dead body being brought back by the Death Eaters. He wasn't present at the funeral as he was still in hiding. Voldemort had only revealed Harry when he was fourteen years old and at the time of Rodolphus' supposed death, Harry was only ten.

Harry's attention snapped back to the scene happening before him. Bella was still crying, her strong persona had been shattered and she stood with anguished tears running down her cheeks. Voldemort was looking like he couldn't contain the desire to kill someone, to kill Cole Bailey.

"He doesn't know what he's done! If he thinks he can get away with cheating me, the Dark Lord, then he is gravely mistaken! Just because he is in Azkaban, doesn't mean I can't get to him!"

Bella looked up at Voldemort but didn't say anything. She looked at the thin file clutched in her hands and Harry took the opportunity to see what it was as well.

It was the arrest file on Cole Bailey. It stated clearly that the wizard, identified as Cole Bailey had been arrested during the raid and was sentenced to a life time in Azkaban. It had other details as well but Harry wasn't bothered to read it at the moment.

"Get the others ready. We're leaving for the half blood tonight!" Voldemort said and moved to leave the room.

Suddenly Bella was standing before him, her tear filled eyes fixed on Voldemort. Bella dropped to her knees but kept eye contact with him.

"Master, please!" she begged.

Voldemort stood silently. He was looking at Bella with a mixture of repulsion and anger.

"You stupid woman!" he hissed. "Do you realise what it is you are asking of me? You wish for the person who lied to you, who lied to your Master! You ask for him to be spared!?"

Bella dropped her head as Voldemort shouted the last part out. She sat on her knees, head bowed and didn't speak. Voldemort turned away from her, his back turned on the broken woman on the ground.

After what seemed like hours, Voldemort spoke in a much calmer but just as furious voice.

"I will grant you your plead. I will not kill that half blood!" here he turned around to face her. "But he will stay in Azkaban forever! He will rot there!"

Bella nodded her head and got up to her feet, trembling a little.

"Thank you, Master." She whispered.

Voldemort looked carefully at her before he spoke again.

"I will not allow his deceit to be known by anyone. I will make arrangement and we will bury him before all the others. Rodolphus Lestrange will be dead to all who knew him. Cole Bailey-!" Voldemort spat the name, "will spend the rest of his days in Azkaban!"

That was when it all made sense to Harry. The body he had seen and the body that was buried under the gravestone of 'Rodolphus Lestrange' was a fake. It was something Voldemort had created so that no one questioned the whereabouts of the most talented Death Eater. Voldemort didn't want his Death Eaters knowing that a half blood Metamorphmagus had fooled him into believing he was a pureblood. If this fact came out, Voldemort would be ridiculed and that was not acceptable to the Dark Lord.

Judging from the file sitting on the ground, all documented proof of Cole Bailey was gone from the Ministry. That was why Remus and Sirius couldn't find anything. Voldemort's Ministry spies had made sure nothing remained on the wizard Cole Bailey. The Death Eaters captured rarely ever got a trial, so no one knew that Cole Bailey had fooled everyone into thinking he was the pureblood descendant of the Lestrange family. The fact of the matter was that had the Ministry not questioned Rodolphus using Vertiserum, no one would have known of his true identity.

Harry watched as Bella stood with her head lowered, tears still cascading down her face. She was trembling. Her arms were by her sides, fists clenched hard. Her breath was coming out raggedly to stop herself from crying.

Lord Voldemort studied Bella carefully before speaking.

"You should be thankful he's gone, Bella. If he were here, I would have killed him myself." He hissed.

Harry felt his stomach turn as he heard the familiar words. He had seen this memory, this part of the memory before. He had dreamt of it but at the time he had been convinced that Voldemort was talking about him. He was certain that Voldemort was referring to Harry and that this was the time Harry had run away from Voldemort and was hunting his Horcruxes.

The memory faded and Harry found himself staring up at the white ceiling of his bedroom. He shot up in his bed, his breathing short and difficult. He was drenched in cold sweat and his hair was sticking to his head. But all that Harry could hear was the sound of Bella's stifled sobs ring in his ears.

"Oh God!" Harry whispered to himself as he thought about who he was going to face behind that silver mask.

xxx

"I don't understand. How is this possible? Rodolphus is-"

"Dead, yes we thought that too." Lucius drawled, cutting James off.

James was still clutching the newspaper copy in his hand, staring at the handsome dark haired man.

"We looked up the muggle resources, hoping to find something on Cole Bailey. It turns out that when he was a teenager, he had been suspected as an accomplice to arson." Hermione supplied, answering James' unasked question. "No one was killed, just damage done to property and such. We found his picture and Sirius said that he looked familiar." Here she looked at Sirius and he took over the conversation.

"I had never met Rodolphus but I remember seeing him with…with Bella. I showed the picture to Lucius, hoping he would recognise him." Sirius looked at Lucius and swallowed heavily. "That was an understatement."

Lucius raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. Instead he turned to James and started to explain.

"I was there when we buried Rodolphus Lestrange's body. I was present at his funeral. I was also there at the raid where he 'supposedly' lost his life. I never saw anything but we were told that Rodolphus had given his life, saving Bella's. Our men working under cover at the Ministry smuggled the body out and returned him to Voldemort, where he and Bella proceeded to hold a proper funeral. Rodolphus was one of the most talented and useful Death Eaters Voldemort had. His death had been taken very hard." Lucius stopped here and James got the impression that even though the blonde haired man was acting like he wasn't affected by all this, he was.

"Voldemort must have found out that Rodolphus was actually Cole Bailey, a half blood wizard. Rodolphus was never killed in that raid. He was arrested and during his questioning it must have been revealed that he was actually Cole Bailey. Voldemort faked Rodolphus' death and funeral so no one would ever question why Voldemort left such an important Death Eater in Azkaban."

No one quite knew what to say to this. They stared at each other.

"Why did Cole Bailey lie?" Hermione asked, not able to understand the man's motive.

Lucius didn't have the answer.

"I don't know. I don't understand it any better than the rest of you. Rodolphus, he was very close to Draco and to Harry for that matter. He cared for them like they were his own. I don't understand how he could have hurt Draco. Why he would try and hurt Harry. I don't understand it at all." He said painfully, his Slytherin mask falling to show how much this revelation was affecting him.

James didn't know what to say. He turned to face his best friend.

"Sirius, get Dumbledore and Remus here. Hermione, Lily is in the garden, can you please get her in here. I'll get Harry." With that James left

James was running up the stairs. He had to tell Harry about what Sirius and Hermione had found out. He reached the top landing and literally bumped into Damien, Ginny and Ron.

"Whoa, what's wrong?" Damien asked as he saw his dad's pale face.

"Where's Harry?" James asked hurriedly.

"He's taking a nap." Damien replied, confused at his dad's worried expression.

James moved towards Harry's room making Damien and the other two follow him.

"Dad! What are you doing?" Damien asked as he saw James approach Harry's door.

James didn't answer, instead he threw open Harry's door. This was important. He was sure Harry wouldn't mind being woken up to be told they had found the Dark Prince impostor.

The door swung open to reveal the large room. James scanned the room and felt his heart plummet into his stomach. The room was empty. Harry was gone.

Before James could turn to leave he spotted a parchment lying open on Harry's desk. James strode towards it and recognised Harry's hand writing. He read the letter without picking it up, his hands were shaking too much for him to lift anything.

'_Dad, _

_I know who the impostor is. I'm sorry but I have to face him alone. Please don't get involved in this. I have to deal with him myself. I'll return soon. I promise._

_Harry._'

James looked up from Harry's scribbled note, a strange panic taking over him. How did Harry find out about the impostor's identity? Did he over hear them? James figured that was probably the most likely explanation. He turned to see that Sirius, Lucius and Hermione had joined the other three teens and was standing at the door, looking at the empty room with panicked expressions as well.

"Do you know where he is?" James asked. He was referring to Rodolphus.

Lucius found everyone turn to stare at him. He looked back at James and met his worried eyes.

"I have an idea of where he might be." Lucius answered.

xxx

Harry walked into the darkened room and took a painful look around. Although Harry had been at this location many times before, he had never been inside the small cottage that belonged to Bella and Rodolphus. Any time he had come here, he had visited the gravestones outside and left.

Harry had never had any business in Cornwall other than to visit the graves that belonged to Bella and Rodolphus. Now he knew that the grave next to Bella was and had always been empty.

The room Harry had walked inside was littered with empty glass bottles and strewn with old newspapers. Harry noticed most had the silver masked figure on its pages. Harry glanced at the walls and saw a large portrait. It was the Dark Mark, the skull with the serpent protruding from its mouth. There were many other portraits decorating the walls, most portrayed the occupants obsession with dark magic.

Harry was standing in front of the portrait of the Dark Mark when he heard the floorboards creak, giving away the fact that someone had walked inside.

"I see you finally remembered."

The voice echoed in the dark room. Harry stood where he was, his back turned to the speaker. He had to calm his frantic heart before he faced him. Slowly Harry turned around but the sight took his breath away anyway.

He was standing there. A few steps away from him. The silver mask was still covering his face and Harry could tell the metamorphmagus was still mimicking him. Harry stared back at him, at Rodolphus, the man he grown up with and had believed to be dead for the last eight years or so.

No one spoke, the two wizards continued to stare at each other. Harry could see the hate and anger swim in the emerald orbs. Neither wizard made any move to attack each other and just stood in the darkened room.

"You can remove your mask. I know who you are now." Harry said quietly.

The masked man didn't react straight away. Slowly, he raised his hand and pulled the silver mask away from him face. At the same time, Harry noticed the changes taking place so Rodolphus took his true form. The messy hair changed to long dark locks. He grew a few inches taller as well.

Harry sucked in a breath as he saw Rodolphus' face. Harry had never seen anyone who had been to Azkaban. It was therefore a shock to see what the wizard prison did to an individual.

Rodolphus' once handsome face had been reduced to gaunt and pale. His eyes that had once sparkled with life now had a pained haunted look. His cheeks looked like they had been sucked in. His face looked nothing more than a skeleton with thin skin stretched painfully over it.

Harry took an involuntary step backwards at the sight of him.

Rodolphus smiled, a pained smile, nothing like his usual smiles, and fixed his eyes at Harry.

"Not quite what you expected?" he asked, taking a step further into the room.

Harry felt his insides freeze as he heard his proper voice again.

"Considering I thought you were dead, yeah, you're a bit of a surprise." Harry voiced.

The smile vanished from Rodolphus' face and he looked angrily at Harry.

"I am dead. I died with her! I died the night you betrayed her, the night you killed her!"

Harry looked at Rodolphus, caught off in surprise. He knew who the 'she' was that he was referring to. It could only be one person.

"Rodolphus, I never killed her." Harry said with difficulty, mostly because his own guilt at causing Bella's death was weighing him down.

Rodolphus' eyes flared up at once and he gripped the wand in his hand tightly.

"Look at you! You can't even lie properly." He hissed at Harry.

"You would know all about that, wouldn't you Cole Bailey!" Harry retorted. He wasn't going to be called a liar by the person who had cheated his own wife.

Rodolphus stopped and stared at Harry, an unreadable emotion in his eyes.

"My lies never hurt anyone." He argued.

"Yes, they only kept everyone in the dark. Especially people you claimed to have loved!"

Harry had to bring up his shield since as soon as the last words left his mouth, Rodolphus had fired a spell at him. The light of the hex hit Harry's blue shield and melted away. Harry brought down his shield and looked at the man before him.

"I wondered were your bitch had learnt that from." Rodolphus said with a smirk.

Harry had to tell himself to stay calm. He had decided before coming here that he wasn't going to let himself be coaxed into doing something he didn't want to do. Rodolphus could talk badly about Ginny or anyone for that matter; he wasn't going to lose control.

"Do you have no shame at all? To pass the Dark Lord's teachings onto blood traitors is a disgrace!" Rodolphus spat.

Harry still didn't say anything. He was keeping a close eye on the wand held in Rodolphus' grip.

"But then again, you are a disgrace yourself. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by your actions." Rodolphus said, the words piercing Harry's forced calm.

"You don't know what…" Harry was interrupted by another attack, this time Harry jumped out of the way as a crucio was aimed at him.

"Don't you dare try and lie to me! I don't want to hear your pathetic lies and excuses!" Rodolphus raged. He aimed another crucio at Harry but Harry was ready to avoid it.

Harry had just narrowly missed the curse and turned to point his wand at Rodolphus. Both wizards were aiming at each other. Slowly Harry lowered his wand, surprising Rodolphus.

"I'm not going to fight you, Rodolphus." Harry said. "I didn't come here to fight you. You're not my enemy."

Rodolphus let out a snarl and fired another curse at Harry, this time his cutting hex caught Harry in his side and he stumbled back a few steps.

"You are the enemy!" Rodolphus all but screamed, his wand brandished in front of him. He fired curse after curse and it was all Harry could do to shield himself against them. "You left us and changed sides! After all we did for you! We brought you up, we cared for you, loved you! Loved you like you were our own and what did you do?! You left us! You betrayed us!" Rodolphus was lost in his rage and kept firing at Harry.

If Harry had chosen to fight back, he would have easily fought off the maddened wizard. But Harry didn't. It wasn't just because the person in front of him was from his past but because Harry knew that Rodolphus was partly right. Harry did betray Voldemort, he did cause Bella's downfall. He did leave them at the time of war and whatever his reasons were, they didn't take away from the fact that he, Harry, had killed the people that had brought him up.

The other thing and perhaps the factor that stopped Harry from fighting Rodolphus at all, was that Harry knew that Rodolphus never knew about the abuse Voldemort and Bella inflicted on him. Harry had met Rodolphus when he was married to Bella and had spent considerable time as a Death Eater. Voldemort wouldn't trust a new Death Eater with Harry. It was the fact that Rodolphus showed such talent that he was introduced to Harry at all.

Harry was only six years old when he met Rodolphus. The abuse stopped when Harry was four. Rodolphus never knew how his master and wife had broken the boy before they build him into a warrior. Harry knew that was why Rodolphus had such unadulterated anger towards him. To Rodolphus, Harry had changed sides for no reason other than to cause Voldemort's downfall.

Harry managed to block the curses and jumped out of the way of the Unforgivables as they couldn't be blocked. He was on the ground when he managed to cast 'Expelliarmus' and disarm Rodolphus. But even without his wand, the Azkaban escapee didn't stop with his attacks.

He threw himself at Harry and started to punch any part he could. Harry fought back but only to protect himself, he never made any move to hurt Rodolphus. Harry blocked the physical assault and pushed Rodolphus away from himself.

"You left them! You left them when they needed you the most! You're a traitor!" Rodolphus yelled as he made to kick Harry.

Harry blocked him and finally had enough. He wandlessly blasted Rodolphus away from himself. The grown wizard fell to the ground with a smash; his head collided terribly with the table. He lay there panting and trying to get his breath back.

Awful guilt flooded into Harry. He could see that Rodolphus wasn't in his right mind. He didn't know what drove Harry to do what he did. He didn't understand it.

"I didn't betray them." Harry said as he saw Rodolphus get to his feet. The man glared at Harry.

"You left them! You sided with the Ministry! You helped destroy Master!" Rodolphus said, his voce not only showing his anger but also his heartbreak.

"No, I didn't!" Harry defended.

"I know what happened! I saw it all! I saw what you did! I saw everything!" Rodolphus yelled, catching Harry off guard.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, his heart thumping hard at his insides.

"I saw it. I saw how she…she…and what you did….how could you, Harry? How could you do that to Master?" Rodolphus' voce broke at this point and he looked at Harry with pain in his eyes.

Harry was lost. What did Rodolphus mean when he said he saw it? What did he see?

"What are you talking about…?" Harry started but stopped when he heard Rodolphus starting to explain.

"When he was dying, I saw it all. I forced the memories from him. He couldn't stop them, Snape couldn't stop me from seeing his memories." Harry could hardly breathe. He stood in silence and listened to Rodolphus. "I cast Legimens but Snape blocked me. He was good, his Occulmency skills were legendary but when a person is dying, their mind shields aren't strong enough to fight. I easily invaded his mind and forced everything from him."

Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. Rodolphus had raped Snape's mind when he was dying. Even for a Death Eater, that was about the cruellest thing you could do.

"I saw what happened. I saw how you left him! I saw how she begged for you to come back. She was afraid for you, for _you!_ She didn't want you to get hurt! And you didn't even care. Bella loved you! She loved you like you were her son! And you, you didn't even care!"

Harry couldn't speak, he listened to Rodolphus' maddened confession.

"And then I saw her punishment…her punishment…she shouldn't have been punished! It was your fault! Not hers! She wasn't the one who lost the Horcrux, you were the one who destroyed it! I know you did! I saw that old fool, Dumbledore tell Snape it was you! You took the ring from her knowing it would cause her death! You killed her! You sentenced her to the Kiss! It wasn't Master's fault! It wasn't, it was your fault!"

Harry was feeling sick. He was right. Rodolphus was right. It was Harry's fault. He had known Bella would be punished but he still destroyed the Horcrux. It was Harry's fault.

"I…I didn't…" Harry started.

"Shut up! Just shut up! You did it on purpose! You did it so you could go back to your blood traitor father and your mud blood mother! You left those who brought you up, gave you everything your heart desired and you went back to the people who couldn't even bother looking for you!" Rodolphus was lost in his rage.

"Why did you do it, Harry? Why did you kill them? They never did anything but love you. You destroyed the Dark Lord, the man you called father all your life. You killed him, I saw it!" Rodolphus' voice had changed and Harry could hear the pain in his voice.

"I never wanted to believe it. I saw the news of the Dark Lord's destruction while I was still in Azkaban. I refused to believe it! I was convinced that you would rather die than raise your wand to him. But then I saw you! I saw you with your newfound _family_!" the last word was spat out with hate. "And I realised what you had done. I knew Snape had led the Aurors to my Masters noble home and I tracked him down. I killed him and while he was taking his last breath, I ripped the memories from him and saw, with my own eyes your deceit!"

Here, Rodolphus' manner changed and it seemed like he had lost all his anger. He sagged a little, his arms wrapping against his thin torso. His pale face twisted to show pain and heartbreak. His eyes had suddenly glazed over, as if he was seeing something only he could see.

"I saw what had happened. I saw her and I knew what I had to do. I remembered the promises we had made to one another and I had to do it. She wouldn't forgive me if I didn't. She didn't look like how I remembered her. She was…different. I saw her lying in her bed, her beautiful face turned to the ceiling, her eyes, oh, her lifeless eyes staring at me, but no light danced in them like they usually did." A strangled sob left him and Harry could feel his own heart beat heavily against his chest.

"What did you do, Rodolphus?" Harry asked painfully. He knew Rodolphus was speaking about Bella and from what he had said, it was obvious that he met Bella after she had been given the Kiss.

"I knew I had to, it was asked of me. She told me that if she was ever humiliated like this, for me to end it for her. I love her so much, I could do it." Rodolphus was looking past Harry, his eyes unfocused and still glazed. The words repeated as if he was trying to convince himself of them more than Harry.

"I did what I had to. I did what she had asked of me. I looked at her for the last time, kissed her for the last time and softly released her, took her away from the disgrace she had been forced to endure. I took her away from everyone and I brought her home, where she wanted to come." Here Rodolphus looked over to the front door, outside which were the two graves.

That was the last straw and Harry's resolve to stay calm broke. His emerald eyes darkened and the ground he was standing on shook beneath him. This snapped Rodolphus out of his daze and he looked at Harry, true fear showing in his eyes at the sight of the boy before him.

"You killed her." Harry hissed at him.

Bella hadn't died in her bed, like everyone had thought. She had been killed by Rodolphus. He had killed her.

Despite the rage directed at him, Rodolphus matched Harry's anger and yelled.

"Killed?! I never killed her! You killed her! You're responsible for her destruction, not me. I loved her! I went to Azkaban for her! To keep her safe!"

Rodolphus was suddenly blasted from the spot he stood. He flew back and his body smashed into the wall behind him, knocking the portrait behind him. He fell to the ground, spitting out blood in the process.

Harry was dangerously close to burning the place down. His rage was such he could actually feel it spread through his veins. He was standing before Rodolphus before he had even hit the ground. With a flick of his wrist, Rodolphus was picked up and held in the air.

"You killed her!" Harry spat at him again before throwing him across the room.

Rodolphus' body smashed to the ground and he skidded a few feet before hitting the wall.

Harry was beyond the point for any reasoning. He couldn't see Rodolphus standing before him anymore. All he could see was Bella's killer.

Rodolphus got to his feet and accioed his wand. He pointed it at Harry and tried to curse him but before the words could leave him, Harry had raised his hand and wandlessly twisted his wand holding arm. A horrid snap rang through the air as Rodolphus' wrist snapped and the wand fell to the ground. Rodolphus was too surprised to even scream in pain.

Harry smashed his foot into the older man's stomach and he was propelled into the air. He smashed straight through a door and ended up in the bedroom. Harry was quick to reach him and once again he lifted the man into the air. Rodolphus gasped in pain but as he was suspended in mid air, there wasn't anything he could do to protect himself.

He stared at Harry as his black eyes radiated with darkness.

"You wanted to see what I'd become, didn't you?!" Harry asked, his voice sounded inhuman, as if a demon had spoken.

Rodolphus cried out as he felt his blood begin to boil. He found Harry's black eyes fixed on him. Just as Rodolphus thought he couldn't take the torture anymore, he was freed from the curse and sent smashing to the ground. He gasped in excruciating pain and looked up to see black eyed Harry looking at him murderously.

Harry moved towards him, his hand outstretched before him, pointing at Rodolphus. He was just about to rip him apart, limb from limb when he suddenly stopped. His eyes caught a portrait on the wall, a portrait of a beautiful woman. A sudden flash of memory hit Harry, a tearful Bella falling to her knees, begging Voldemort to spare the life of the man she loved. Harry's eyes changed back to green and he stared at the wall before him.

The dark haired woman in the portrait had looked straight at Harry, stopping him from killing Rodolphus. Harry stared at the portrait of Bella and felt his heart ache in unbearable pain. He had lost her. She was gone the day she had been Kissed. Harry knew that but there was a part of him that believed that maybe, just maybe, she could be brought back. After all it wasn't a real Dementor that had given her the Kiss. Maybe there would be a way to bring her soul back. Even when Draco had told him that it wasn't possible, Harry never believed him. He was certain that there must be a way to bring her back. But Rodolphus had killed her. There could have been a way to bring her back but Rodolphus had killed her before anything could happen.

Harry moved away from the man in disgust. He had been ready to forgive Rodolphus. He came here with the intentions to make Rodolphus understand that he wasn't his enemy. To perhaps tell him about his past and what caused him to leave Voldemort. Even after what Rodolphus did to Harry, all the attacks he carried out under Harry's name, the killings and everything. After what he did to Draco, the threat he made to Damien's life, after everything, Harry was ready and willing to put it behind him. Because it was Rodolphus, Bella's husband. That last person linked to Harry's past and to Bella.

Harry stepped away and left the injured man on the ground.

"I'm not going to kill you, Rodolphus." Harry said his breathing making his voice strained. "You can live with the knowledge that you killed Bella when there was a chance she could have been revived. You're the one who killed her." Harry turned to leave. Just as he reached the door he spoke again. "And you should know that the man you still serve today, the man you wanted to avenge had left you to rot in Azkaban." At this Rodolphus looked up, his eyes wide and unbelieving.

"No! My Master was coming for me. He was going to break me out! He would never leave me!" he croaked.

"He was never going to come for you. You were destined to die behind the bars of Azkaban." Harry hissed cruelly.

Rodolphus struggled to stand up but couldn't manage. He sat up though.

"I don't believe your lies! He…he wouldn't leave me like that! Bella…Bella wouldn't let…"

"Bella didn't do anything because you lied to her! You had always lied to her and she left you to your fate."

Rodolphus shook his head vigorously.

"No! She would have forgiven me! She loved me, she would forgive me. I know it! I only lied because I loved her! She would believe me!" he yelled.

Harry looked at the man, covered in blood and felt the familiar stab of pity stir in him.

"She loved you, yes. The only reason you are still breathing is because she loved you." Harry looked him in the eye before going on. "You spent eight years in prison, waiting for someone to come for you. Face the truth. Voldemort wasn't coming for you. They were never coming for you. Look outside Rodolphus, they buried you long ago."

With that Harry moved out of the room leaving behind the broken man.

xxx

Just as Harry moved out of the room he looked up to see four men run inside, wands held in their hands. He saw the panicked looks on his dad's face.

"Harry! Are you okay?" James asked while Sirius, Remus and a dark haired man, who Harry assumed was Lucius with glamour, ran into the room behind Harry.

Harry looked tiredly at his dad. He felt like all his energy had been sapped out of him.

"I'm fine, dad." He said in a strained voice.

James and Harry turned as they heard Sirius yell from the room that they were taking Bailey to St Mungos.

James looked at Harry with a questioning look.

"Not now, dad. I can't explain just now. Yell at me later." Harry said, feeling his emotions too close to the surface.

"I'm not…I'm surprised." James said making Harry look at him questioningly. "I thought you would've killed him."

Harry looked back at the room, he could still see a part of Bella's portrait.

"He's already dead. What would I gain from killing him?" Harry whispered as he saw Sirius and Remus check the broken looking man.

James looked confusedly at him but didn't say anymore. He put a comforting arm around his emotionally drained son.

"Come on, we're going home." He said quietly.

Harry was too tired to say anything but gave his dad a thankful look. James guided Harry outside so he could apparate together, back to their home, back to Potter Manor.

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Okay, there you go. Hope you liked it. The Epilogue will tie all loose ends, Malfoy senior and junior, Rodolphus' fate, the new Minister and of course Harry.

Please review to tell me what you thought of it. Cheers!!

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	44. Epilogue

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! Here it is, the last chappie. Enjoy!

**Chapter Forty Four**

Lily sat the hot drink on the tale before taking her seat. She gathered her hot mug close to her, taking comfort in its warmth. The weather was still warm as it was late August but the cold Lily felt had nothing to do with the weather. It was more to do with the topic of discussion.

James picked up his drink and sipped at it. It was quite late in the night but the two adults couldn't sleep. They had been up, sitting in the kitchen, discussing what had happened in the last few days.

It had been three days since Rodolphus was found out as the Dark Prince impostor. Since then the only topic of discussion was him. Lily was starting to wish that this discussion would end and after today, she hoped it would. Today, Rodolphus Lestrange or Cole Bailey, whichever name you wanted to call him, had been laid to rest.

She hadn't attended the man's funeral. Lily shifted uncomfortably at the knowledge. Lily always tried to be an understanding person. She tried to always look for the good in another person. However, the man that had been buried today was someone who had set out to harm both her sons. He was responsible for everything that they had gone through this last year and for Harry's silent suffering. Harry was still addicted to sleeping potion. The withdrawals were still causing Harry enough discomfort and pain. But Harry never said a word to anyone. Lily knew herself that the addiction was likely to last for another year at least. Potion addiction wasn't something you could get over quickly or easily. The only person responsible for Harry's health problems was Rodolphus. He was the one who was behind the drugging.

Rodolphus was also planning on hurting Damien. He had threatened his life. Lily knew it was an awful thing to think of anyone, but she was glad he had died. If he had survived, she would have been constantly afraid for both her sons' lives.

"We did the right thing, didn't we?" Lily asked out loud.

James looked up from his drink. He rubbed at his tired eyes.

"I think so." He replied.

He was thinking the same thing as Lily. He wasn't sorry for his death in the least. Rodolphus had threatened his sons, if he hadn't died himself, James would've probably killed him himself. There was no way he was attending the man's funeral. He knew Lily felt guilty but he didn't. Why should he? The man was the reason Harry suffered so much.

Harry, James felt his heart skip again at the thought of him.

"Is Harry home yet?" James asked, glancing at the muggle clock, Lily insisted on having.

"No, not yet." Lily answered, trying not to sound too worried.

James let out a sigh. Harry was still there. James couldn't understand Harry at times like this.

"I still can't believe he went to the funeral." James voiced. "After everything the man did, Harry still attended his funeral! I just don't understand him."

Lily took another drink of the scalding hot liquid. She agreed with James on this point. Harry attending Rodolphus' funeral was difficult to understand. Harry wasn't the only one though. From what she heard, Sirius, Remus and Tonks were there too and surprisingly, Narcissa and Lucius made an appearance. Lucius was under glamour since other people were present. Narcissa and Sirius both said that regardless of what happened, Rodolphus was still Bella's husband and they felt it was important for Bella, that they attended his funeral. Remus and Tonks went for Harry's sake, and Lucius, well, he went for the sole purpose to watch the man that had injured his son, be buried six feet under. The only thing he regretted was that he was unable to take revenge on the man before his death.

"I think it was awfully brave of Narcissa to go. Just the thought that Rodolphus was planning on hurting my sons makes me hate him so much, and Narcissa's son is still in hospital because of him. I never thought she would have it in her to go to his funeral." Lily commented.

"I know, but I think in Narcissa's case it's more complicated than that. Rodolphus used to have a great relationship with her and with Draco. Lucius told us that Narcissa and Bella were very close. They had cast Andromena aside as she had eloped with Ted so the two sisters grew very close to one another. Bella cared deeply for Narcissa and for her only nephew, Draco. Rodolphus cared for those Bella cared for. I can understand that even though he hurt Draco, Narcissa probably felt the need to do right by her sister. She only went for the sake of the relationship she used to have with Rodolphus and in memory of her sister." James explained.

"It's good that Draco's okay now though. It's weird that he woke up just after Rodolphus' death, don't you think?" Lily said, genuinely relieved that Draco had awoken from the coma. She had feared that if Draco didn't make it, it would've destroyed Harry.

"I don't think it was a coincidence. I think he had done something, some sort of binding spell that meant Draco wouldn't awaken unless he, Rodolphus, died." James said suspiciously.

Lily blinked at him in confusion.

"You really think that?" she asked.

"He was a cruel person. I wouldn't put it past him to do something like that." James said.

Lily wasn't too sure. She was certain it was just a coincidence.

"Well, regardless of that I'm very glad he's okay. He's going to stay in hospital until he fully recovers though. I think now that he's out of his coma, Harry is going to be visiting him everyday." Lily said, trying to think about the upcoming future.

"Yeah, I guess." James agreed. "It's not as if Harry will have anything else to do."

It was true. With James, Lily and Damien heading off to Hogwarts in a few days time, Harry was going to be left alone. He hadn't mentioned what he wanted to do as a career choice and with all this Dark Prince impostor business going on, James hadn't had a chance to speak to him about his future.

Yesterday, James had casually commented that maybe Harry should come with them to Hogwarts, until he decided what it was he wanted to do. Harry had only responded by throwing his dad a glare and walking out of the room. Damien had finished off the topic by saying, 'I think that's a no, dad.'

"I don't like the idea of Harry being alone, especially after what's happened." James said, draining his cup and settling it on the table.

"I know, I don't like it either. It's not that I don't think he can look after himself. I know he can, last year he was on the run from everyone and Merlin knows how little he survived on." Lily trailed off, feeling her stomach clench painfully at the thought of her Harry living rough and starving. "But I want him to be with the rest of his family."

James nodded his head in agreement. It wasn't going to happen though. Harry would never go back to Hogwarts.

"Harry will figure out what he wants to do with his life. Just give him time, Lily." He responded.

Lily looked away from him. She knew he was right. It was Harry's choice what he wanted to do and if he wanted to stay in Potter Manor all alone, doing nothing, then that was his choice. She did wonder what he would do all day. He would get so bored by himself. If he knew what job he wanted to do then he could start the necessary training. But that was the problem. Harry hadn't said anything about what he would like to do with himself after Hogwarts. She knew what his plans had been a few years back, but thankfully those plans had changed. Now that Harry wasn't planning on becoming the next Dark Lord, he had all career choices before him.

She knew that Ron Weasley was starting his Healer training in the next few weeks. Harry was good but she knew he wouldn't want to be a Healer. He didn't have the patience to teach so becoming a Professor was out of the question. He wasn't as enthusiastic about Quidditch as his father or brother so he wasn't going to become a national player.

Her emerald eyes fell on the newspaper Sirius had brought that morning and the headlines made her smirk. She picked up the paper and looked at James, a crooked smile on her face.

"You know, the Minister's job is up for grabs. Don't you think Harry would be a great Minister for Magic?" she asked.

James did a perfect double take before he saw the smirk and realised his wife was being sarcastic.

"Oh, yeah, definitely!" James played along. "I can just imagine it now." He closed his eyes and pulled a face.

"What do you see?" Lily asked.

"Chaos. Complete pandemonium." James said without opening his eyes.

Lily giggled before swatting his arm with the paper.

"Hey! That's my son you're talking about!" she playfully admonished. "He would be a great Minister. Completely…revolutionary." She added.

James smirked as well.

"Got that right! Well, it's a shame another Minister has already been elected." He said pointing at the paper in Lily's grip, with a fake sigh.

Lily looked at the headlines again and at the smiling face of the new Minister for Magic.

"Amos Diggory, elected new Minister for Magic." Lily read out the headline. "I don't know him. I taught his son though, Cedric, I think, yes Cedric Diggory, very nice boy. Lily commented with a smile.

"I know Amos. He was a Ministry Official, worked for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures." James said. "He's nice enough. A Quidditch fanatic but he does support Bulgaria though." James said, playfully pulling a face. "All he ever talks about is the team or his son. Rather proud of him he is."

Lily smiled at that. She looked down at the man who was smiling and waving his hand at the photographers. Her smile faltered and she looked at James with a hint of fear.

"James, he, I mean Amos, he won't…the…the Ministry won't blame Harry for Rodolphus' death, will they?" Lily asked, again. She had been told the answer many times before but she couldn't stop herself from worrying.

"Lily, I told you. It wasn't Harry's fault. When Sirius and the others brought Rodolphus to St Mungos, he was in a stable enough condition. The Healers gave the report that he was going to make a full recovery. But something went wrong after that. The Healers had no answer as to why he died. They said it was as if he just decided to stop living. It was all very sudden but they indicated that it had nothing to do with his injuries."

Lily nodded her head again and took another drink. She didn't want Harry to be held responsible for anymore trouble. Her son had been through enough.

"Do you think Harry blames himself?" she asked.

At this, James looked up at her and the answer was clear to read in his eyes.

"He blames himself for a lot of things that aren't his fault. I think this is another one to add to the list." He said sadly.

xxx

Harry sat on the cold ground, his eyes fixed on the freshly dug grave before him. It was a strange thing, Rodolphus Lestrange's grave had been dug eight years ago and today he was buried. Harry had suggested that he was buried in the grave marked for him, next to Bella's grave. It seemed the right thing to do.

Harry felt the cool air whip at his face and hair. Everyone had left, he was the only one left here. He didn't know how he felt about Rodolphus' death. It was obviously his fault, no matter what the Healers said. The problem was that he didn't know what to feel anymore. The last few days had gone by without Harry even noticing. The truths he had seen weighed down on him more than ever. The knowledge that Bella had been killed still made his insides burn with anger. A part of him knew that that anger wasn't justified. Bella had died, she was gone. It was just the empty shell of her left behind that Rodolphus had attacked. But even that made fiery rage spread through him. If she was still here, then Harry could still see her, still pretend that she was with him. He believed that he could have found a way to bring her back. However impossible, it could have been done. Magic knew no limits, right?

Harry looked up at the night sky and let out his breath. He was tired and was looking forward to going back home and going to sleep. He hadn't suffered from any more nightmares and he knew that now he never would. Voldemort would never haunt his dreams because apparently, he never wanted to haunt him in the first place. He had been trying to reach him, or rather, Tom Riddle, the part of Voldemort that remained human, was trying to reach Harry.

Harry never told anyone about his dream and meeting Tom Riddle in the Realm of the Erised. His dad and everyone else thought Harry had overheard their conversation and Harry was content to let them think that. They wouldn't believe him anyway. Harry knew now that the only way Bella could have passed on the information of Rodolphus' true identity was by giving him her memories. There was no way of doing that unless she met him in a Realm that existed between the two worlds, between the dead and the living.

His connection with Voldemort was stronger that he ever imagined and that was why he saw a few memories of his, disguised as dreams. The conversation with Bella about Rodolphus and the raid that cost Rodolphus his freedom was passed onto Harry by Voldemort.

The only positive thing to come from all this was the peace Harry now felt when he thought about Voldemort. His guilt no longer plagued him and no matter how difficult it was to see Bella again and see parts of her life that he never knew before, it gave him a strange sort of comfort. But seeing Bella and Voldemort again also made Harry long for them even more.

Harry only came out of his musings when he felt someone sit down next to him on the cold ground. A warm hand slipped into his and Harry knew who it was without even looking. He could recognise the touch anywhere.

"You didn't have to come, Ginny." He said quietly.

Ginny's warm body leaned against his and Harry could almost feel the heat travel into him, warming him, comforting him in the way that only her presence could.

"I wanted to see you." She replied just as quietly.

Harry turned his head around to look at her. Her brown eyes were fixed on him and she was sitting close to him, her arms wrapped around his, holding his hand securely in her own. Harry silently loved the way she was able to comfort him whilst holding him as if seeking comfort herself. He relaxed into her and stared at the night sky, aware that it was quite late into the night.

"Did you come alone?" Harry said after a few minutes.

Ginny lifted her head off Harry's shoulder to answer.

"Yes, I wanted to see you, to see how you were after the funeral. But when I fire called, Damien told me that you still hadn't come back yet. I wanted to see you so I decided to come."

Harry smiled and looked at her.

"You're putting your ability to apparate to good use then?" he joked.

Ginny was now seventeen and had recently sat her appartation test and passed. Since then she was taking to apparating everywhere, much like her older brothers.

"Only for the important trips." She joked back, squeezing his hand slightly.

Harry's smile slipped off his face and he looked back at the two graves before him.

"You didn't have to…I mean after what he tried to do to you. You shouldn't have come." Harry said.

Ginny looked at the grave and held back the shudder. She could never forget how close she came to dying that night, Rodolphus had attacked her on the Astronomy tower. She now understood the meaning to the words that were hissed icily at her. 'Because it would destroy him!' Rodolphus had attacked her because he knew that Harry loved her. He wanted Harry to lose the one he loved, just as he had lost the woman he loved, Bella.

"You're here. He did worse things to you." Ginny offered.

Harry nodded his head but didn't say anything. It was hard to explain why he was here. It wasn't really for Rodolphus, but more for Bella. Seeing her memories, Harry knew that no matter what, she still loved Rodolphus, loved him to her dying day. Harry understood her feelings. Once you love someone, no matter what you learn about them, that love will never die. No matter what.

They stayed in the cold for only a few more minutes. Harry could feel the small shivers of the girl next to him. He stood up, bringing Ginny to her feet at the same time.

"Come on, I'll take you home." Harry said, wrapping an arm around her.

They walked away from the two graves, only looking back once. Harry still had his arm wrapped around Ginny and pulled her close into his embrace as he looked at the graves of Bella and Rodolphus.

"Ginny, I know that I don't say it often and I don't even act like it most of the time, but…" Harry stopped so he could look at Ginny properly. "I love you, you know that, right?"

Ginny smiled at the look on Harry's face and leaned in to kiss him lightly.

"I know. I love you too."

Harry captured her lips in a proper kiss and he let himself get lost in it. His hands wrapped themselves in her red hair, pulling at it gently. Ginny's hands were in Harry's messy locks as well and she was returning the passionate kiss with as much vigour as she could.

When they broke the kiss Ginny was looking at Harry with a very contented expression. She wrapped her arms around Harry and settled her head next to his chest. Harry wrapped his arms around her as well and held her like she was a precious life source. It was in this state that Harry apparated to the Burrow, Ginny still snuggled deeply into his chest.

xxx

Harry walked down to breakfast with Damien in tow, grumbling sleepily about being woken up 'too early'.

"How is it too early?" Harry asked in amusement.

"What did I do to you? Why are you punishing me? I need my sleep, Harry. I really do." Damien said, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

Harry smirked but continued to walk downstairs.

"You're going to be going to Hogwarts in a few days and then you won't be able to do your training. You have to do as much as you can before you go." Harry explained calmly.

Damien threw Harry an annoyed glare.

"If I'm going in a few days, then why can't you just leave me alone from now?" He asked.

Harry only laughed and opened the door to the kitchen. He was expecting it to be empty as it was quite early in the morning. He was therefore very surprised to find three people sitting at the kitchen table. Harry stood at the door, eyes fixed at the three people sitting before him. James and Lily were not much of a surprise. It was the third person sitting calmly at the table, looking like he came for breakfast to the Potter Manor every day.

Damien came up behind Harry and saw the guest as well.

"Professor Dumbledore?"

The silver haired wizard peered at the two Potter boys through his half moon glasses.

"Good Morning, Damien, Harry." He greeted them.

Damien stared at him. The Headmaster had never called him by his first name. It was always 'Mr Potter'. Harry didn't return the greeting but continued to stare at him.

Damien nudged Harry to move from the doorway and that was the only reason Harry walked inside. He tried to ignore the presence of Dumbledore, hoping that he had come to speak to his parents and would hopefully leave soon. But it seemed that luck wasn't on his side today as Dumbledore made no move to leave.

"Harry, Professor Dumbledore wants to have a quick word with you." Lily informed him.

Harry didn't say anything and moved towards the fridge to take out a drink.

"Well, it seems you're busy, so I'll just go back to…" Damien started to say while moving towards the door to leave.

"You're not doing anything of the sort. Go outside and get started. I'll join you in a few minutes." Harry instructed.

"But, what about breakfast…" Damien started but then quickly shut his mouth at the look Harry sent him. Harry was not in the mood to be messed about.

Mumbling something about forced training on an empty stomach, Damien left to go to the training grounds to start his warm up exercises.

Harry made a point of slowly preparing his morning breakfast fruit drink before coming to the table. He sat down, sipping at his drink and eyeing Dumbledore with plain annoyance.

James and Lily got up from the table to leave Harry and Dumbledore alone. James gave Harry a funny look as he left. It was almost as if he was pleading Harry to stay civil. Harry gave him a small smirk in response.

Dumbledore didn't say anything until Harry and he were the only ones left sitting at the table in the kitchen. He had just opened his mouth to speak when Harry cut him off.

"I'm not in the mood to listen to anything you have to say, Dumbledore."

There was no malice in Harry's voice; he was merely stating his feelings. His eyes stayed glued to the Dumbledore's face as he spoke.

The age old Headmaster of Hogwarts didn't respond but stayed seated, in front of Harry. For the longest minutes, neither said anything. Harry refused to show how much the other wizard's presence was bothering him. Finally, Dumbledore leaned forward and reached into his robes and pulled out an official looking envelope. The familiar green ink adorned the front of the envelope, indicating that the letter had something to do with Hogwarts. Harry could clearly read his name before Dumbledore offered it to him.

Without saying a word, Harry took the envelope and opened it. He pulled out the parchment and looked at Dumbledore with surprise. He looked back down at the parchment and read it, wanting to make sure what he was reading was in fact true.

"What is this?" Harry asked after reading the letter twice. His emerald eyes shone in his anger, giving the teen a surreal look.

"It's an invitation for you to join the staff at Hogwarts." Dumbledore explained simply. "It has been recognised and addressed that some aspects of the schools curriculum is indeed far from perfect. One of the major areas is duelling techniques. As the Headmaster I have the job of appointing the best suited person for the position. I could think of no one but you."

Harry was unable to say a word so continued to stare at the man in shock.

"Before you turn down the job, please let me explain." Dumbledore said quickly. "The job is to teach a new class to the curriculum. The best way to describe it is that it's somewhere between the Duelling club and Defence against the Dark Arts class. It will work closely with Defence against the Dark Arts. The class will be run for everyone, from first year to seventh. It probably won't be introduced until the school year after this one as it needs a lot of preparation. I'm inviting you to come to Hogwarts and prepare the coursework. What will be taught and what will be left out will be under your control. The aim of the class is to learn how to duel efficiently. That is why I thought of you. Your duelling skills are already legendary. If you teach the coming generation of witches and wizards, you would be equipping them to deal with whatever the future brings."

Dumbledore could see Harry's expression darken considerably. His jaw was clenched so tight, Dumbledore was sure it was hurting.

"You want me to teach others how to duel?" Harry asked quietly.

"Yes, I do." Dumbledore answered, inclining his head slightly.

"You have some nerve!" Harry said, pinning the Headmaster to his seat with his icy stare. "You want me to pass Voldemort's teachings to others? Is that what you're asking me?"

"I know what you're thinking…" Dumbledore started.

"Trust me, you're not even close!" Harry hissed angrily. "I have never had the misfortune of meeting someone as hypocritical as you! You spent decades of your life, hunting Voldemort down! You formed groups to go against him! Manipulated others into helping you! And after all that, you have the audacity to take Voldemort's teachings and pass them onto others? You're pathetic!" Harry's eyes blazed at the older wizard.

Dumbledore stayed calm and didn't interrupt Harry. Only when Harry finished his angry retort, did the wizard speak.

"I may have been against Voldemort, but I have never questioned or ridiculed his skill. He was a very powerful wizard. There is no question about that. It was what he used his power for that was the problem."

Harry's eyes darkened at that and he clenched his hands into tight fists.

"You're still lecturing about right and wrong? Before you point your finger at Voldemort, why don't you look at yourself? There is no difference between you and Voldemort. You're just as ruthless as he was." Harry told him.

Dumbledore dropped his head and for a moment, Harry thought he saw a look of guilt and remorse flash on his face.

"I'm not going to defend myself. I know that there have been times when I have acted in ways that are similar to Voldemort. But it's not our actions that define us, it's our intentions."

Dumbledore's midnight blue eyes bore into Harry's emerald ones. In the midst of other emotions, Harry could clearly see guilt, remorse and hurt. At that point Harry knew Dumbledore was going to confess something. He was right.

"I know that you won't believe me that I did what I had to for the greater good, but I'm going to tell you regardless. To show you that although my and Voldemort's actions are similar, our intentions weren't."

Harry was intrigued, so much so that he didn't put up any argument. Dumbledore took a deep breath, his face showing his frail form and his old age.

"A few days after Voldemort's death, I took steps to ensure the safety of those involved in Voldemort's ambush. I knew that survivors of the last battle would try to get revenge. I know that I have no way to prove this but, with Severus' agreement, I removed some of his memories."

Harry could hear a distant roaring in his ears. His rage built up inside his chest to the point that it physically hurt. It wasn't that Harry felt any emotions for Severus Snape. He didn't know him that well to care about him. But the man had helped him, helped protect Damien in Riddle Manor. He had died at Rodolphus' hand for helping others rescue Harry.

And Dumbledore had taken away his memories. Just like Voldemort had taken away Harry's. Dumbledore was saying that Snape had agreed, but there was no way to prove that. Snape was dead. He couldn't come back to testify Dumbledore's claim.

"I wanted to protect Draco and Damien…"

The words brought Harry out of his reverie.

"…with Severus' permission, I performed a complicated charm that allowed Draco and Damien's involvement in your rescue to be removed from his memory. That was my way to ensure the young boys' safety. I didn't want anyone to target them in a bid for revenge." Here the legendary wizard's voice faltered. "I'm afraid that even that was not enough to save Draco. Rodolphus found out and attacked him. How he found out, I do not know. I understand that most of his information regarding what happened to Voldemort and Bellatrix was taken from Snape when he…when he was dying. But how he came to learn of Draco and Damien's involvement, I do not know."

Harry remembered how Draco had bragged about his involvement in leading the Aurors to Voldemort's home to Nott in the Room of Requirement. Nott must have told Rodolphus before he killed him. Harry had often wondered why the media had never commented on Draco and Damien's involvement in bringing about the fall of Voldemort. He had always thought it was because the Ministry didn't want to admit that they had used two under age wizards as bait to get to Voldemort. Never did he think that it was because of Dumbledore. That it was because he had removed the evidence from Snape.

"So you see, Harry, I did something very similar to what Voldemort did to you. I manipulated the memories another person retained, but where Voldemort did it to control you, I did it to protect innocent lives. Our actions are the same but our intentions are worlds apart."

Harry was too angry to speak. He wasn't going to fall for Dumbledore's twisted words. He was just as manipulative and heartless as Voldemort was.

"You're just the same." Harry seethed through clenched teeth. "Do you think that by telling me this, you'll make me believe you're in the right? That it's okay to do crimes others get punished for, if it's for the greater good? It doesn't work that way, Dumbledore. It's not as easy as that!" Harry spat.

Dumbledore smiled a sad smile and looked at Harry.

"Alas, if only it were easy." He said quietly. "Harry, I know what you think of me. I know that you still consider me as much of an enemy as you did when you were first captured by the Order. I can understand your reluctance to trust me." Dumbledore's words echoed around Harry. "I know that you can't trust me. I only ask that you give me the benefit of the doubt. I am not offering you this job so that I can control you in anyway. If you take this job you will not be working under me. You will control what is taught and in what manner."

Harry calmed a little at his words and took a few minutes to closely observe the wizard. He could tell that he was sincere in his words, but for someone like Harry, who had suffered from abused trust time and time again, Dumbledore's sincere words held no weight.

"As kind as you offer is, I'm going to have to decline." Harry said his tone sharp and cutting. "I can't work with someone like you. It was my obligation to my parents that made me return to Hogwarts this year. I would never willingly return to a place which holds you too."

Harry slowly stood up and looked down at the old man.

"I've made my brother wait long enough. You can see yourself out." With that Harry walked towards the door.

"I'm not your enemy, Harry." Dumbledore said quietly.

Harry stopped at the door. He turned around to look at the Headmaster.

"I know." he whispered. "But you're not my friend either."

Harry left Dumbledore sitting alone at the table, to go and join his brother and family outside in the bright sunshine, to spend as much time as he could with them before they all left him to go back to Hogwarts.

The End.

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I had planned a different end to this but with the sequel now in place, I had to change it.

What did you think of it? Please review to let me know?

The sequel will be up soon. For more information on it, please visit my Yahoo group. The link is in my Profile page.

Cheers!!

Answer to ACE.

Hey! Okay to answer your question, Bella was able to send Harry her memories by bringing him to the Realm of the Erised. She wasn't able to do that since her connection to Harry wasn't strong enough as his connection to Voldemort, which is why Voldemort was 'haunting' Harry, to guide him to the Realm where they could meet. Since the two things that Harry's desires the most are Voldemort and Bella, they were able to come into the Realm if the Erised when Harry went there in his dream. The Realm is like a world in between the living and the dead. The dreams that Harry has been having throughout the story was the recollection of the raid Voldemort saw from Bella's memory. He was able to pass this to Harry as he has still not let go of Voldemort completely.

The memory that Harry has just as he is about to kill Rodolphus is more like a flashback of Harry's. It has nothing to with Bella. Harry remembers just as he is about to kill Rodolphus that Bella had fallen to her knees and had begged for his life to be spared. Harry couldn't kill Rodolphus after remembering that.

I hope this answers your question, if not then PM me and I'll answer it in more depth!

Kurinoone.


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